RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/MA/SPEC/6
24November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5156)
Committee onMarket Access
DRAFT
REPORT (1997) OFTHE COMMITTEE ONMARKET ACCESS
1. TheCommittee onMarket Access heldfiveformal meetings in1997: on3March, 8April,
24June, 29September and[2December]. Theminutes ofthese meetings arecontained indocuments
G/MA/M/8 toG/MA/M/[12].
2. Atitsmeeting of3March 1997, theCommittee elected Mr.Moha Ouali Tagma ofMorocco
asChairman for1997. Atitsmeeting of8April 1997, theCommittee elected Mr.Simona Valceanu
ofRomania asVice-Chairperson.
3. TheCommitteedecidedtograntobserverstatustotheACPGroup,FAO,ITCB,Inter-American
Development Bank, UNCTAD andWCO. InthecaseofIMFandWorld Bank, theCommittee took
notethatobserver status hadalready beengranted byvirtue oftheagreements concluded withthese
organizations.
4. Asconcerns theintroduction on1January 1996 ofthechanges tothenomenclature ofthe
Harmonized System andthesubmission ofdocumentation related tothese changes theCommittee
examined thesituation atevery meeting onthebasisofupdated documents prepared bytheSecretariat.
On13December1995severalMembersweregrantedindividualwaivers,foroperationalreasonsgrouped
intoonesingle decision, fortheintroduction ofHS96 changes intotheirschedules. These waivers
which concern presently thirty-eight countries andtheEuropean Communities were, bysuccessive
decisions bytheGeneral Council, extended until30April 1998.1Inaddition tothese HS96 waivers
fourMembers obtained anextension until30April 1998 oftheirwaivers inconnection withthe
transposition oftheirpre-Uruguay Round schedules intotheHarmonized System.
5. Atthemeeting of29September 1997some Members reiterated theirconcern about therepeated
extension ofwaivers duetoreservations made without specifying thereasons onthedocumentation
ofcertain Members, andwhich prevented thecertification oftheproposed changes. Inthisconnection,
theChairman oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods heldinformal consultations which resulted inan
understandingthatintheshortterm,Membersshouldpursuetheworkontheverificationandcertification
ofHS96 documentation without delay onthebasis oftheexisting rules. With aview toassisting
interested Members, theSecretariat would transpose theavailable HS96 documentation ontoelectronic
media inastandard database system. Asconcerns thelongterm, anumber ofimportant issues were
raised which could leadtochanges oramendments tothedecisions currently inforce. Thiswork was
continuing intheframework oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods.
1Seedocument WT/L/243
./.G/MA/SPEC/6
Page2
6. [Atitsmeeting of2December, theCommittee noted thataccording todocument
G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.12 there were[38]HS96 submissions, onlythree ofwhich hadbeenfinalized and
thereby certified. Ofthe39Members currently covered bywaivers, there were [nine] thathadnot
yetsubmitted thenecessary documentation.]
7. With regard totheDecision onNotification Procedures forQuantitative Restrictions adopted
bytheCouncil forTrade inGoods inDecember 1995, theCommittee adopted atitsmeeting of
24June1997 aformat forthesubmission ofnotifications ofquantitative restrictions. Theapproved
format wascirculated indocument G/MA/NTM/QR/2 dated 10July1997.
8. Atitsmeeting of29September 1997 theCommittee tooknoteofthestatus ofquantitative
restriction notifications contained indocument G/MA/NTM/QR/1/Add.4. Inthiscontext, several
delegations pointed outtheneedtodefine more clearly thescope ofthenotification requirement for
quantitative restrictions.
9. Atitsmeeting on24June 1997, theCommittee agreed, asoutlined indocument
G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1, totherestructuring oftheexisting Integrated DataBase(IDB) fromamainframe
environmenttoaPersonalComputer(PC)-basedsystem,whichwouldutilizenewtechnologytoimprove
theoperation oftheIDB. Inaddition totheoperational changes outlined inG/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1, the
Committee sought tolaydown asolidbasis forthetransmission oftheinformation required forthe
functioning ofthePCIDB. Inthisconnection, theCommittee forwarded adraftDecision ontheSupply
ofInformation tothePCIDBtotheCouncil forTrade inGoods, andthentotheGeneral Council for
adoption. ThisDecision wasformally adopted bytheGeneral Council atitsmeeting of18July1997
(WT/L/225).
10. Atitsmeetings of29September and[2December] 1997, theCommittee examined theprogress
oftheimplementation ofthedecision ontheIntegrated Data Base andtooknoteofthestatus of
submission oftherequired data.[AtitsDecember meeting, issues relating tothedeadlines forsupplying
therequired information, access totheIDBandthemodalities oftechnical assistance werediscussed.]
TheCommittee examined themodalities oftechnical assistance fortheIDB, asdescribed in
document G/MA/IDB/W/3.
[Thedraft report willbeupdated inthelight ofthediscussions atthemeeting ofthe
Committee on2December 1997.]