RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/MA/SPEC/22
20 September 2002
(02-5040)
Committee on Market Access
DRAFT
REPORT (2002) OF THE COMMITTEE ON MARKET ACCESS
1. Since the last review, the Committee on Market Access has held three formal meetings
(15 March, 12 June, and [23 September] 2002) and ten informal meetings (11 December 2001,
14 January,  31 January, 18 February,  26 April, 16 May, 28 May, 6 June, 12 June and 26 July 2002).The minutes of the formal meetings are contained in documents G/MA/M/31 to [G/MA/M/33].  In
addition, two periodic reports giving an overview  of the issues discussed in the Committee and
providing factual information related to the requests for waivers and waiver extensions, both for the
introduction of HS96 changes and for the transposition of schedules into the Harmonized System are
contained in documents G/MA/114 and [G/MA/116].
2. At its meeting of 12 June 2002, the Committee took note of the nomination of
Mr. Phoho Setipa (Lesotho) as Chairman of the Committee for the current year and elected him by
acclamation.  At that meeting, the Committee elected as Vice-Chairperson for the current year,
Mr. Trevor Matheson (New Zealand).
A. 
TRANSPOSITION OF SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS INTO THE HARMONIZED SYSTEM (HS)
3. The Committee took note that there were [2] Members under waiver for the transposition of
their schedules into the Harmonized System.
B. INTRODUCTION OF HS96 CHANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS
4. On 13 December 1995, several Members were granted individual waivers for the introduction
of HS96 changes (WT/L/124 + Corr.1) which for operational reasons were grouped into one single
decision.  These waivers were extended by successive decisions of the General Council until
30 April 2002 (WT/L/400).   The Committee agreed in 2001  that this would be the last HS96 waiver
to be granted on a collective basis but that this did not preclude any Member from requesting a waiver
on an individual basis.  In this connection, at its formal meetings of 15 March and[23 September 2002], the Committee took note of and approved the individual requests for waivers to
carry out possible consultations/negotiations under Article XXVIII following the introduction of
HS96 changes in national tariffs.
5. At its formal meetings, the Committee examined the situation related to the submission of HS96
documentation set out in documents  G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.27-29.   At its meeting of 23 September 2002,
the Committee noted that the submissions of […] Memb ers, whether they had requested an extension of
waivers or not, remained pending due to ongoing consultations and/or negotiations.
6. In continuing with the practice established in 2000, the Committee agreed to hold informal
meetings dedicated to the review of the HS96 situation based on the informal list prepared by the
Secretariat.  These meetings were held on 26 April and 26 July 2002.G/MA/SPEC/22
Page 2
C. INTRODUCTION OF HS2002 C HANGES TO SCHEDULES OF CONCESSIONS
7. At its meeting of 15 March 2002, the Chairperson reported on the consultations she had
conducted on the draft decision entitled "Introdu ction of Harmonized System 2002 Changes into
WTO Schedules of Tariff Concessions" (G/MA/W/29). The Committee approved the draft decision as
well as the Chairperson's statement concerning the parity of treatment for Members requiring a waiversubsequently.   At its meeting of 12 June 2002, the Committee agreed to forward Romania's request
for a waiver (G/L/553) and the accompanying draft waiver decision (G/C/W/383) to the Council for
Trade in Goods for approval.  The request had been submitted in connection with the introduction of
HS2002 changes in Romania on 1 January 2002.
8. At its formal meetings, the Committee took note of documents G/MA/TAR/4 and its two
revisions containing information on documents circulated in connection with the procedures tointroduce HS2002 changes to schedules of concessions.  At the Committee meeting of 12 June 2002,
the Chair reported on the Committee's first dedicated informal session held on 26 April 2002 to
undertake a multilateral review of proposed HS2002 changes of some Members.
D. D
ATABASES
9. With reference to the modalities and operation of the Integrated Data Base (IDB), the
Committee, at its formal meetings, examined the status of IDB submissions on the basis of documents
G/MA/IDB/2/Rev.13-15.  The Secretariat presented an oral report on the status of IDB dissemination,
use of IDB information, IDB technical assistance, st atus of submissions, and the status of software
development (IDB reporting tools and internet analysis facility).  Some Members stressed theimportance of the IDB and urged Members to comply with the notification requirements of the IDB.
10. At its formal meetings, the Committee took note of the Secretariat's reports on the status of
the Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database Project which included the status of CTS files for both
the tariff and agricultural commitments for Members.  The software development status fordissemination and analytical facilities was also presented.  Some Members stressed the importance of
the CTS database and urged those Members concerned to comply with the notification requirements
of the IDB.
11. At its meeting of 12 June 2002, the Committee adopted the dissemination policy of the IDB
and the CTS database (G/MA/115).   At that meeting, the Committee also agreed to turn on the CTS
database on the understanding that the Secretariat would continue to report on the status of submissionsto the CTS database.  This reporting requirement was deemed necessary as one Member had yet to make
a submission and questions remained on two other schedules.   
E. I
MPLEMENTATION ISSUES
(1) Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns:  Meaning to be given to the phrase "substantial
interest" in paragraph 2 (D) of Article XIII of GATT 1994 (paragraph 1.2 of WT/MIN(01)17)
12. At its meeting of 15 March 2002, Committee agreed to the Chairperson's proposal that the
Secretariat prepare an empirical paper illustrating how "substantial interest" would be taken into
account if the proposal by Korea (Annex II to WT/GC/50) were to be used.  The Chairperson statedthat this paper was only meant to assist the Committee in its initial thinking of the subject and did not
prejudge the position of any delegation.
13. At the Committee meeting of 12 June 2002, the Chairman reported on the work done thus far
by the Committee in the context of informal m eetings on the meaning to be given to the term
"substantial interest" in paragraph 2(d) of Article XIII of GATT 1994.   The Committee agreed thatG/MA/SPEC/22
Page 3
the Secretariat should do additional case studies basing itself on the proposal by St Lucia circulated as
G/MA/W/30.  Ecuador stated that his delegation had no objections to additional studies being
undertaken, but that no conclusions should be drawn from them as WTO jurisprudence had already
interpreted Article XIII:2(d).   Ecuador's statement was circulated in document G/MA/W/32.
(2) Outstanding Implementation Issues raised by Members: Tiret 99 of Job(01)/152/Rev.1 –
Measures designed to secure a Redistribution of Negotiating Rights in Favour of Small and
Medium-sized Exporting Members in Trade Negotiations
14. This implementation issue, transmitted by the Council for Trade in Goods to the Committee,
was considered by the Committee for the first time at its 12 June 2002 formal meeting.  Following
discussions at that meeting,  the Chairman agr eed to hold informal consultations on: 1) how to
transmit this issue back to the Council for Trade in Goods, General Council or TNC as it was not
limited to Article XXVIII but much broader in nature, covering both services and goods; and 2) to
look at the market access aspect of this matter on the basis of a background paper by the Secretariat.
F. STATUS OF NOTIFICATIONS ON QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS AND REVERSE
NOTIFICATIONS OF NON-TARIFF MEASURES
15. The Committee reviewed the status of notifications under the "Decision on Notification
Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions"  and under the "Decision on Reverse Notification of
Non-Tariff Measures", on the basis of Secr etariat documents G/MA/NTM/QR/1/Add.8 and
G/MA/NTM/W/3/Rev.1, respectively.
G. PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE 'S REPUBLIC OF  
CHINA – CHINA 'S TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM
16. On China's Transitional Review Mechanism and at its 12 June 2002 meeting, the Committee
agreed that the review would take place at the 23rd September 2002 meeting of the Committee.
H. OTHER ACTIVITIES
17. At the Committee meeting of 15 March 2002, the Committee took note of document
G/MA/TAR/3/Rev.7 which reflected the latest tariff information available in the Secretariat.
Delegations were encouraged to provide copies of their national tariffs to the tariff library and were
also requested to notify the Secretariat accordingly if they wished to have the data submitted by them
in the context of the IDB or the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM) exercise also madeavailable in the Tariff Library.    The Chairperso n also informed the Committee that she had received
a letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) requesting
information on any discussions or other developments relating to special and differential treatment
taking place in the Committee in the first-half of 2002.  Her response to the Chairman of the CTD
would indicate that a lot of technical assistance work was being undertaken especially in the contextof the IDB.  At that meeting, concerns were voiced by the US concerning certain trading practices of
China and Egypt.
18. At the Committee meeting of 12 June 2002, Japan complained about China's use of specific
duties on photographic and cinematographic goods, which in the view of Japan breached China'sbound ad valorem commitments.  The US drew the Committee's attention to what, in the US view,
appeared to be China's discriminatory application of the VAT to fertilizer imports. The US supported
by Canada complained that China's allocation of fertilizer tariff rate quotas for 2002 was delayed by
several months and still appeared to be incomplete. Canada,  under other business, raised a problem
connected with the application by China of variable tariffs on newsprint. China responded thatconsultations were ongoing with the Members concerned in capital.G/MA/SPEC/22
Page 4
19. [At the Committee meeting of 23 September 2002, Ecuador raised some questions about  the
new Panama Canal transit tolls.]
__________