RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG/M/33
2 December 2002
(02-6639)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Thirty-Third Session
NOTE ON THE MEETING OF 12-13 NOVEMBER 2002
Chairman:  Mr. B.G. Chidyausiku
A. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA
1. The Thirty-Third Session of the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements (CRTA or
Committee) was convened in Airgram WTO/AIR/ 1955, dated 1 November 2002.  An annotated draft
agenda had been distributed in July 2002.
2. The Chairman informed that he would raise a number of points under "Other Business",
namely the reply he intended to give to the letters received from the Chairman of the Working Group
on Trade and Transfer of Technology and the Chairman of the Special Session of the Committee on
Trade and Development;  the calendar of meetings for 2003;  and the election of Officers of the
Committee.
3. The following Agenda was adopted:
A. Adoption of the Agenda
B. Examination of Regional Trade Agreements
I. Interim Agreement between the European Community and the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
II. European Communities - Czech Republic Europe Agreement, Services
III. European Communities - Romania Europe Agreement, Services
IV. European Communities - Bulgaria Europe Agreement, Services
V. European Economic Area, ServicesVI. Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a Closer Economic 
Partnership, Goods and Services
VII. Agreement between Poland and the Faroe Islands (Government of Denmark)
VIII. Free Trade Agreement between Estonia and the Faroe Islands (Government
of Denmark)
C. Reporting on the Operation of Agreements
D. Systemic Implications of Regional Trad e Agreements for the Multilateral Trading
System and Relationship between them
E. Annual Report to the General Council
F. Other Business
4. The Chairman recalled that the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) had been
granted observer status to the CRTA on an ad hoc  basis and sought confirmation to extend an
invitation to LAIA to attend the Committee's next meeting.  It was so agreed.WT/REG/M/33
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B. EXAMINATION OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS
5. (The minutes of the examination of the Agreements listed under agenda items B.I-VIII are
being distributed as separate documents.)
C. REPORTING ON THE OPERATION OF AGREEMENTS
6. The Chairman noted that all reports under consideration corresponded to the 2001 calendar
contained in document WT/REG/W/42. They were being considered that day due to their late
submission.  Eleven reports had been received, leaving six reports outstanding, namely Australia-
Papua New Guinea Agreement (PATCRA), Caribb ean Community and Common Market, Central
American Common Market, EC-Cyprus, EC-Malta, and Un ited States-Israel FTA.  He urged the parties
to submit those reports as soon as possible.  Notin g that, in the case of PATCRA and United States-
Israel FTA, reports were also mi ssing for 1999 (document WT/REG/W/33) , he suggested that the parties
concerned submit a detailed and updated single report covering both periods.
7. The representative of the European Communities noted that all Members were aware of the
amount of work which went into preparing reports ev ery two years.  That was particularly the case for
his delegation, given the large number of RTAs it ha d to report on.  The exercise was very demanding
on human resources and on liasing with the parties concerned.  The EC still had two reports missing;
his delegation was working with its partners to fina lize them.  Indicating his concern with the fact that
some reports from the 1999 cycle were still missing, he recalled that the reporting obligation, which had
been established by the GATT CONTRACTING PARTIE S long time ago, had fallen into disuse in part
because not all parties complied with it.  He wished to note the importance of sticking to this obligation
given the number of RTAs in force;  its fulfilmen t represented a small contribution to transparency.
Finally, he supported the Chairman's pragmatic sugg estion to combine all outstanding information in
one report and urged the Members concerned to submit the requested information to the CRTA.
8. The representative of  Australia apologised for the delay in submitting the PATCRA reports
and informed that both parties were working on them.  She would inform her capital of the proposal to
combine the reports, which appeared to be pragmatic.
9. Recalling the various transparency problems confronting the Committee, the Chairman noted
that it would be unproductive to re-open a lengthy debate on the matter now.  He emphasized that
failure to comply with the submission deadlines not only went against the increasing attention being
given to the question of transparency in terms of the future work of the Committee, but also  gave rise
to a backlog of reports, making it increasingly difficult to respect the deadlines set out in the calendar
for the submission of the reports.  He invited a ll Members to place considerable effort in ensuring
compliance with their reporting obligations and urged parties to those RTAs for which reports still
stood unaccounted for to amend this situation with the shortest possible delay.  With respect to thereporting obligations in 2003, he proposed that the Committee postpone for one year, to 2004, the
next submission of biennial re ports. He saw two arguments in favour of the postponement: the
Committee was only now considering the reports of 2001, and the workload in 2003 was likely to be
burdensome for all delegations due to preparations for the Ministerial Conference in Cancún.  It was
so agreed.
10. The representative of Switzerland informed the Committee that, in relation to the Agreement
between the EC and Switzerland, seven sector-specific bilateral agreements had entered into force,
which would be notified to the WTO in due time.
11. In relation with the reports submitted, the representative of Australia noted that her delegation
remained concerned about the limited coverage of ag riculture in some of the RTAs involving the EC.
She expressed her delegation's disappointment wit h, for example, the very limited coverage ofWT/REG/M/33
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agriculture in the EC-Norway agreement, as indica ted in Part II.8 of WT/REG137/R/B/1, and with the
fact that it appeared that the coverage had not been extended within eight years from the entry into
force of the agreement, despite the existence of provisions allowing for further liberalization of this
sector.  The representative of the United States concurred with Australia and requested the EC to
provide information regarding the trends in agricu ltural trade in all their RTAs, as the statistics
provided seemed to indicate a decrease throughout the years.  Indicating that he had taken note of the
comments made by the representative of Australia, the representative of the European Communities
stated that he could not reply on the spot to the question posed by the representative of the UnitedStates.  He indicated however that all the RTAs concluded between the EC, EFTA, and the
Mediterranean countries included an evolutionary clause with respect to agricultural products. He
further noted that a new generation of agreements with Mediterranean Countries was progressively
put in place. These "Euro-Mediterranean" agreements were being notified to the WTO and examinedby the CRTA.
D. SYSTEMIC IMPLICATIONS OF REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS FOR THE
MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM
12. The Chairman recalled that during the course of this year, work on systemic issues had
focused on the two crosscutting surveys prepared by the Secretariat on Rules of Origin Regimes in
RTAs (WT/REG/W/45), and Coverage, Liberalization Process and Transitional Provisions in RTAs
(WT/REG/W/46) , which represented  important contributions to enhancing the understanding of the
impact of RTAs on the multilateral trading system, as well as constituting a solid base for the
Committee's further work on systemic issues.  In terms of future work, he had been informed that the
Secretariat continued working on these and other surveys.  Since negotiations were taking place onRTAs rules, which covered most of the systemic issues discussed in the Committee, he saw no point
in engaging the Committee on issues being deliberated in another forum.  However, this standing item
in the agenda could serve as an opportunity to vent general comments that delegations might have on
this aspect of the Committee's mandate.
13. The representative of the United States noted that this meeting of the Committee had not been
widely attended and participation had not been broad.  That would argue in favour of a proposal being
discussed in the Negotiating Group on Rules, whereby the Secretariat or independent experts would
make a factual analysis of RTAs in advance of their examination, so that discussions would be more
meaningful.  She also thought that some of the problems on biennial reports could be resolved in the
Negotiating Group on Rules, if Members could agree on some type of provision stating that the report
of an RTA need not be made jointly by all its parties, and that individual Members could file their
own report if it had not been possible to reach agreement on a common report.
14. Agreeing with the remark made concerning attendance and participation, the Chairman
wondered whether delegations did not see the releva nce and importance of the CRTA.  He added that
the Committee should be innovative and generate interest on its proceedings, in particular given the
current upsurge in RTAs.
E. ANNUAL REPORT TO THE GENERAL COUNCIL
15. The Chairman noted that a draft Annual Report of the Committee to the General Council had
been recently circulated as WT/REG/W/47; it co ntained a number of points within square brackets
which needed to be completed to take into account the discussions held at that Session.  He proposed
to address the draft report section by section. Very shortly after this meeting the Secretariat would
revise the draft incorporating the changes agreed a nd filling in the spaces that had to be completed.
16. The representative of the European Communities requested that the updated text in paragraph
7 reiterate the importance of regular reporting obligations and the importance attached by theWT/REG/M/33
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Committee to receiving the outstanding reports on the operation of agreements.  The Secretariat could
draft the paragraph along those lines and consult with the interested Members before finalizing the
report.  The representative of the United States observed in this respect that the attachment to the
Annual Report spoke by itself and that this issue could not be singled out without referring to thenumerous other documents that had not been submitted to the Committee by Members.
17.  The representative of Hong Kong, China highlighted some points included in the draft
Report. In paragraph 5, it was noted that no progress had been made on the completion examination
reports.  In paragraph 6, it was indicated that the consideration of biennial reports due in 2001 had
been deferred to 2002 due to their late submission to the WTO.  In paragraph 9, it was noted that
Members tended to delay the submission of the documentation required for the examination of RTAs.
In the final remarks, it was said that the CRTA had completed the factual examination of a number of
RTAs but had been unable to finalize reports on any of the examinations before it.  It was herdelegation's belief that ensuring a smooth operat ion of the CRTA was of utmost importance. She
urged Members to consider ways to improve the present situation, and she referred to the discussions
on procedural issues being held in the Negotiating Group on Rules.
18. Noting that the CRTA had exhausted the consideration of the draft Annual Report, the
Chairman proposed to entrust the Secretariat with the task of completing the gaps and incorporating
the changes, and that the Committee agree ad referendum  with its Annual Report.  It was so agreed.1
E. OTHER BUSINESS
19. The Chairman informed the Committee that in  October he had received letters from the
Chairmen of the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Development and of the Working
Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology.  Both letters requested reports on any discussions or
other developments relating to special and differenti al treatment, and trade and transfer of technology,
that had taken place in the CRTA.  He did not recall the Committee discussing either of these issues
during the course of the year. He informed the Committee that he would reply accordingly to both
letters, while also informing that should these issu es be debated in this Committee in the future he
would not fail to inform the interested Chairmen.
20. The Chairman informed the Committee that the Secretariat had provisionally booked the
dates of 3-4 April 2003 and 9-10 October 2003 for the next year's regular Sessions of the Committee.
He urged delegations which might foresee difficulties with those dates to convey their remarks to the
Secretariat as soon as possible.  He also stressed that nothing prevented the Committee to convene
outside those dates, formally or informally, if needed by progress in its work.
21. Recalling that Ms. Margaret Liang and Mr. Alberto J. Dumont had resigned their posts as
Vice-Chairs later in 2002 leaving Dr. Notis as the only Vice-Chair of the Committee, the Chairman
invited the regional groupings concerned to cons ider that question and put forward nominations so
that Vice-Chairs would be in place by the time of the first Committee meeting of 2003.  He also
informed the Committee that this would be his last meeting as Chairman, as he had recently been
transferred to New York and would leave Geneva in December.
22. The Committee took note of the comments made.
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1 The Report was later circulated as WT/REG/11.