RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/RO/M/10
17June1997
ORGANIZATION(97-2474)
Committee onRules ofOrigin
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF15MAY 1997
Chairperson: Ms.L.BERRIG (Philippines)
Theagenda proposed forthemeeting, contained inWTO/AIR/582, wasadopted withthe
inclusion ofitems 5,6,7and8under "Other Business" asfollows:
Page
1. Election ofofficers 1
2. Seventh Report oftheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin tothe
Committee onRules ofOrigin (G/RO/15) 2
3. Update oftheIntegrated Negotiating TextfortheHarmonization Work
Programme (G/RO/W/13/Rev.3) 4
4. Notifications under Article 5andparagraph 4ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement
onRules ofOrigin (G/RO/N/16 and17) 5
5. Informal meeting oftheIntersessional Group oftheTechnical Committee
onRules ofOrigin 5
6. Method ofwork concerning issues transmitted from theTechnical
Committee onRules ofOrigin 6
7. Implementation ofArticle 2(h)oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin 7
8. Dateofthenextmeeting 7
1. Election ofofficers
1.1 TheChairman (Mr.C.Osakwe) stated that,inlinewiththe"Guidelines fortheAppointment
ofOfficers toWTO bodies" (WT/L/31), theChairman oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods (CTG) had
conducted consultations ontheappointment ofchairpersons ofthesubsidiary bodies oftheCTG, as
aresult ofwhich consensus hadbeenreached onthenomination ofMs.Lourdes A.Berrig (Philippines)
asChairperson oftheCommittee onRules ofOrigin (G/C/M/17, paragraph 5).
1.2 TheCommittee elected Ms.Lourdes A.Berrig (Philippines) asChairperson oftheCommittee
byacclamation, toholdoffice until theendofthefirstmeeting in1998, under Rule 12ofthe
Committee 'sRules ofProcedure (G/L/149).
1.3 TheCommittee elected Mr.Andreas A.Gaarder (Norway) asVice-Chairman.G/RO/M/10
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1.4 Mr.Osakwe (Nigeria), former Chairman, reviewing theactivities oftheCommittee during
thepasttwoyears, raised fourissues which, inhisview, wereofspecial importance fortheprogress
oftheHarmonization Work Programme. Firstly, 22months hadgonebysince theinitiation ofthe
Harmonization Work Programme inJuly1995, and14months remained. TheTechnical Committee,
inaccordance withArticle 9.2(c) oftheAgreement, wasgiven twoyears andthree months forits
technical work, amandate ofwhich would expire inOctober 1997. Currently, theWork Programme
wasbehind schedule. Inthiscontext, herecalled theDecision taken bytheMinisters atSingapore
thattheHarmonization Work Programme should becompleted onschedule. Secondly, aconsistent
andcoherent accumulation oftheresults oftheHarmonization Work Programme wasimportant. If
thiswasnotdone, results already accomplished could easily belost. Thiswasthereason whythe
initiative ontheIntegrated Negotiating Text(INT) hadbeentaken. NowtheINThadbecome acommon
workingandreferencedocumentbetweenthetwoCommittees.Theissueoftheconsistencyandcoherent
accumulation oftheresults ofthework arose from theunique negotiating configuration inwhich
negotiations hadbeenconducted bytheTechnical Committee inBrussels andbytheCommittee in
Geneva. Thethirdissuewasrelated tovarious plurilateral informal processes thatweretaking place
orhadtaken place inOttawa, Tokyo andWashington. Although some Members, atprevious meetings,
hadexpressed theirdifficulties toattend duetolimited resources, theadvantage oftheadditional work
undertaken inthevenues other thanBrussels atthehosting Members 'expense should notbeignored.
Thefourth issue concerned theenormous number ofproduct-specific rules. Ofthealtogether 5,113
six-digit tariff headings oftheHarmonized System, there hadbeen, todate, agreement on
507product-specific rules which wereplaced inBasket 1bytheTechnical Committee. Over 1,600
product-specific rules were inBasket 2.Those numbers indicated only atrend because the
product-specific ruleswereproposed atvarious levels oftheHarmonized System, suchaschapter notes,
headings, subheadings, splitheadings andsplitsubheadings. When these product-specific ruleswere
transmitted totheCommittee, alarge amount ofwork would berequired tofindsolutions todifficult
issues. TheCommittee would havetobeprepared todealwiththese issues onthebasisofthecriteria
ofthelastsubstantial transformation, including advalorem percentages. Itwasverylikely that
product-specific rulesonwatches andclocks, leather, ironandsteel, textiles, electronics, andchemicals
would havetobedealtwithbytheCommittee. Inconclusion, theformer Chairman suggested that
allthese issues should belooked atintheirtotality.
2. Seventh Report bytheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin totheCommittee onRules
ofOrigin (G/RO/15)
2.1 TheChairperson noted thatpursuant toArticle 9.2(c) oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin,
theTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin hadsubmitted totheCommittee onRules ofOrigin its
Seventh Report, contained indocument G/RO/15. TheReport pertained tothefollowing mainissues:
theHarmonization Work Programme; Method ofWork andManagement Plan(Annex AoftheReport
contains "Views andDecisions oftheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin" andAnnex Bsetsout
the"Management Planfor1997"); andrequests from theCommittee onRules ofOrigin.
2.2 Undertheheading,"HarmonizationWorkProgramme",theChairpersonstatedthattheTechnical
Committee, atitsSeventh Session inBrussels, from10to21February 1997, hadcompleted itsfirst
examination ofrules oforigin fortextiles (HSChapters 52-63), chemicals (Chapters 33-40), and
tools/machinery (Chapters 82-84). Theresults oftheTechnical Committee 'swork were setoutin
detail intherelevant Annexes tothedetailed Report ontheSeventh Session oftheTechnical Committee
onRules ofOrigin which hadbeencirculated bytheWCO Secretariat toMembers oftheTechnical
Committee onRules ofOrigin inWCO document 40.839; onecopyofthisdetailed Report wasavailable
forconsultation intheWTO Secretariat. Thestatus ofthisdetailed report wasprovisional andhad
tobeapproved atthenextmeeting oftheTechnical Committee, scheduled forlateJune/early July.G/RO/M/10
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2.3 Under theheading "Method ofWork andManagement Plan", theChairperson stated thatthe
Technical Committee hadfollowed uptheinitiative taken atitsprevious session toestablish a
Management Planandcalendar foritswork inthecurrent year. Byadopting theManagement Plan
for1997, annexed totheSeventh Report tothisCommittee (G/RO/15), theTechnical Committee took
certain decisions tostreamline andspeed upthework tothemaximum extent possible, andtoenhance
efficiency withaviewtocompleting itswork bytheendofthisyear. Inthiscontext, ithadbeenagreed,
firstly, toincrease thenumber ofmeetings asfollows: attheinvitation ofJapan anintersessional meeting
washeldinAprilinTokyotodiscussparticularlycomplexissues;theSeptembersessionoftheTechnical
Committee onRules ofOrigin would beextended from twoweeks, asoriginally foreseen, tothree
weeks; andanadditional two-week meeting would beheldinlateNovember thisyear. Secondly,
theTechnical Committee 'sworking hours would beextended inorder toincrease theactual working
time. Thirdly, theTechnical Committee established thefollowing measures tostandardize thework
programme: technical contributions must beintroduced bytheagreed deadlines; reservations on
proposals would notbeaccepted unless backed upbytechnical arguments; andtheSecretariat had
beeninstructed toprepare ananalytical tabletofocus ongeneric issues thatwereeachrelevant toseveral
headings orsubheadings.
2.4 Under theheading "Requests fromtheCommittee onRules ofOrigin", theChairperson stated
thattheTechnical Committee hadtaken noteoftherequests made bytheCommittee onRules ofOrigin
regarding theterm"obtained" andtheUSproposal pursuant toArticle 9.3(a) oftheAgreement. It
hadbeenagreed todealwiththeissues raised aspartoftheTechnical Committee 'sexamination of
overall consistency andcoherence oftheresults oftheHarmonization Work Programme.
2.5 TheChairpersonfurtherstatedthatonthebasisoftheSeventhReportoftheTechnicalCommittee
onRules ofOrigin, itseemed toherthatthere were twoissues thatneeded tobeconsidered bythe
Committee: thesituation concerning theHarmonization Work Programme; andtheMethod ofWork
andManagement Planadopted bytheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin. Asregards thesituation
oftheHarmonization Work Programme, theTechnical Committee intended tocomplete itsfirstreading
oftheproposals forproduct-specific rules oforigin atitsnextmeeting scheduled forlateJune/early
July1997. Atthatmeeting, theTechnical Committee, asindicated initsManagement Plan, would
alsoconduct Basket 2discussions onproduct-specific rulesformineral products (Chapters 25-27) and
leather products (Chapters 41-43). Depending ontheoutcome, some ofthese issues would haveto
betransmitted totheCommittee forsolution. These issues would bespecified intheEighth Report
oftheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin, thedeadline forwhich was20July1997. Asregards
theMethod ofWork andManagement Plan, theChairperson drew attention tothefactthatthe
Committee, atitslastmeeting, hadencouraged theTechnical Committee tomake every effort to
guarantee thetimely completion oftheHarmonization Work Programme, andthattheManagement
Planwasaresponse tothatencouragement.
2.6 Mr.Janezcko, theChairman oftheTechnical Committee, stated thattheTechnical Committee,
atitsmeeting scheduled forlateJune/early July,would complete itsfirstreading oftheproposals for
product-specific rulesoforigin anddiscuss therecommendations fromtheTokyo Intersessional Group,
including theformat forsending substantive product-specific rulestotheCommittee inGeneva. The
Technical Committee would alsoconduct theBasket 2discussions atthatmeeting. Inthesediscussions,
reservations onproposals thatweremade forthepurpose offurther consultation withindustry would
nolonger beaccepted, andevery delegation would havetoattend themeeting withtheability tomake
compromises, sothatdecisions could betaken atthemeeting. TheTechnical Committee 'sworking
hours would beextended inorder toincrease theactual working time. TheJune/July meeting would
betherealtestoftheTechnical Committee, anditssuccess orfailure would depend upon whether
theTechnical Committee would beabletoactasagroup.G/RO/M/10
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2.7 Therepresentative ofSingapore, onbehalf ofASEAN, welcomed theconcrete steps thatthe
Technical Committee, asreported intheSeventh Report, hadestablished tostreamline itswork
programme, hoping thatitwould contribute tothetimely completion oftheHarmonization Work
Programme, asmandated bytheAgreement. Asconcerns product-specific rules inconnection with
theBasket 2discussions, healsostated thattheCommittee should encourage theTechnical Committee
totransmit totheCommittee assoonaspossible issues forwhich technical arguments hadalready been
exhausted inorder toenable thisCommittee tostartitsowndeliberations.
2.8 Therepresentative ofColombia expressed concern about thespeed atwhich theharmonization
work hadbeendone. Although thecomplexity ofthetasksandtheenormity ofwork thatcomes with
covering thewhole Harmonized System should berecognized, theCommittee alsohadanobligation
tomeetthedeadlines setoutbytheAgreement. TheCommittee wasnotentitled tochange thegiven
deadlines. Itwasveryimportant tomake every effort toensure thattheCommittee would conclude
itswork successfully andwithin thetime-limits. Inthiscontext, shewelcomed theManagement Plan
for1997contained intheSeventh Report, which planned completion ofthetechnical work bytheend
of1997, andproposed thattheChairperson oftheCommittee sendaconstructive andbriefletter to
theChairman oftheTechnical Committee, thanking theTechnical Committee foritsefforts tofacilitate
thedecision-making process. Inthisletter theCommittee should alsoconvey itsanticipation thatthe
technical discussions onChapters 25-27 and41-43 would beconcluded atitsnextmeeting, scheduled
forJune/July 1997, andthattheconclusions would besubmitted totheCommittee inJuly1997. She
alsoproposed thattheCommittee inform theTechnical Committee thatatthenextmeeting ofthe
Committee these Chapters would bereviewed bytheCommittee. Thiswould assist theTechnical
Committee intaking thenecessary decision thattechnical discussions oncertain issues were fully
exhausted and,thatthose issues should besenttoGeneva tobetackled bytheCommittee onRules
ofOrigin.
2.9 Therepresentative ofCanada shared theconcerns expressed byColombia about thetiming
ofthework andsupported theproposal made byColombia. Healsostated thattheChairperson 'sletter
might alsohelpfurther thedialogue between thisCommittee andtheTechnical Committee interms
ofidentification ofdifficult issues.
2.10 Therepresentative oftheEuropean Communities alsosupported Colombia 'sproposal and
requested theChairperson toholdinformal consultations withMembers onthedraftletter before the
letter would betransmitted totheChairman oftheTechnical Committee.
2.11 Following informal consultations, theCommittee agreed tomandate theChairperson tosend
aletter totheChairman oftheTechnical Committee.1
3. Update oftheIntegrated Negotiating Text fortheHarmonization Work Programme
(G/RO/W/13/Rev.3)
3.1 TheChairperson recalled that,atitsmeeting on10May1996, theCommittee onRules of
Origin haddecided toestablish anIntegrated Negotiating TextfortheHarmonization Work Programme
thatisusedasacommon working document andreference point fortheCommittee onRules ofOrigin
andtheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin. ThefirstdraftIntegrated Negotiating Text (INT)
wascontained indocument G/RO/W/13. Since thenthedocument hadbeenperiodically updated.
Thelatest update hadbeencirculated indocument G/RO/W/13/Rev.3, reflecting work donebythe
Committee atitsmeeting on6February 1997, andbytheTechnical Committee during itsSixth Session
inDecember 1996 inBrussels. Thetextwould beconveyed totheTechnical Committee andthe
1TheChairperson 'sletter wascirculated toMembers indocument G/RO/16.G/RO/M/10
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Chairperson 'sletter conveying therevised INTtotheTechnical Committee would becirculated to
Members.
3.2. TheChairpersonalsonotedthatatthelastmeetingoftheCommittee,concernhadbeenexpressed
withregard tothevolume oftheIntegrated Negotiating Text, andithadbeensuggested thatonly
subsequent additions tothecurrent textshould becirculated, taking intoconsideration thatnochanges
would bemade tothetext,butonlyadditions, untiltheBasket 2discussions intheTechnical Committee
werefurther advanced. TheCommittee tooknoteofthesuggestion asapossible approach inmanaging
thevolume ofthetextandagreed torevert tothisissue atasubsequent meeting. TheChairperson
further stated that,ashadbeenpointed out,thevolume oftheINThadalready reached 554pages,
andthatthepresent INTwasmainly fortherecord ofthefirstreading oftheproposals for
product-specific rulesoforigin. When theTechnical Committee submitted theresults oftheBasket 2
discussions, theINTwould beentirely changed.
3.3 TheCommittee accepted thefollowing proposals bytheChairperson:
(i) forthefuture Integrated Negotiating Text, only subsequent additions toAppendix 2
(Product-specific rules oforigin) totheHarmonized Rules ofOrigin would becirculated to
Members;
(ii) ifthere were anychanges intheGeneral Rules, Appendix 1(Wholly Obtained Goods) or
Appendix 3(Minimal Operations), revised versions oftheGeneral Rules andAppendices would
becirculated; and
(iii) theCommittee would revert tothisissueaftertheTechnical Committee hadsubmitted theresults
oftheBasket 2discussions.
4. Notifications under Article 5andparagraph 4ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin
(G/RO/N/16-17)
4.1 TheChairperson noted thatsincethelastmeeting, theSecretariat hadcirculated twodocuments
informing delegations ofthenotifications received (G/RO/N/16 and17).Todate, 56Members had
made notifications ofnon-preferential rules oforigin and58Members hadmade notifications of
preferential rulesoforigin. Sheexpressed concern thatthenumber ofMembers thathadnotcomplied
withthenotification requirements remained stillveryhigh,andurged Members whohadnotyetnotified
theirnon-preferential and/or preferential rules oforigin todosoasearly aspossible.
4.2 TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
5. Informal meeting oftheIntersessional Group oftheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin
5.1 Therepresentative ofJapan stated that,asagreed bytheTechnical Committee atitsSeventh
Session, aninformal meeting oftheTokyo Intersessional Group (TIG) hadbeenheldinTokyo from
22-24 April 1997 sponsored bytheJapanese administration. Fifty-seven representatives from
27MembersandtheWCOSecretariathadparticipatedinthediscussions.Resultsoftheworkundertaken
intheTIGwould becirculated toallmembers oftheTechnical Committee assoonaspossible inorder
toenable members tohavesufficient timetoconsider theissues before theTechnical Committee at
thenextJune/July Session inBrussels. TheTIGdiscussed several issues which were contained in
theManagement PlanandCalendar for1997, including some product-specific rulesconcerning watches
andclocks (Chapter 91)andsteelarticles (Chapters 72-73) asexamples ofthedetailed discussions
onBasket 2.While theTIGcould notreach aconsensus onthese product-specific rules oforigin,
anumber ofuseful technical evidence, documentation andmaterials concerning these Chapters wereG/RO/M/10
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submitted totheTIG. Inparticular itshould benoted thattheTIGhadagreed thatithadexhausted
itstechnical examination onfinished watches andclocks, although ithadnotyetexhausted itstechnical
examination onother issues concerning watches andclocks. Onthequestion ofwhether theCommittee
should transmit theissueoffinished watches andclocks separately fromother issues related towatches
andclocks, inhisview, there hadbeennoagreement, since some Members believed thatmany issues
concerning watches andclocks wereconnected witheachother andthese issues should bedealtwith
intotality. TheTIGalsoreached anagreement onthemethodology ofBasket 2discussions andthe
template/format which would beusedwhen theTechnical Committee transmitted totheCommittee
those difficult issues onwhich thetechnical possibilities hadbeenfullyexplored andexhausted. In
addition, theTIGdiscussed theoverall architectural design which would continue tobediscussed in
theTechnical Committee.
5.2 Mr.Janezcko, theChairman oftheTechnical Committee, stated thatatitsnextmeeting, the
Technical Committee would decide whether itwould takeuptheissue ofwatches andclocks asan
agenda itemforthatmeeting, deviating fromthenormal order ofbusiness according towhich theissue
should bedealtwithattheSeptember meeting oftheTechnical Committee. Ifitwassoagreed, the
Technical Committee would decide whether andwhich issues concerning watches andclocks should
betransmitted totheCommittee. Asregards thefinished watches andclocks, hedisagreed withJapan's
observation andstated thattheTIGhadreached anagreement thattheissue offinished watches and
clocks wasripefortransmission totheCommittee, while there hadnotyetbeenagreement onother
issues concerning watches andclocks.
5.3 Therepresentative oftheUnited States stated thatitwould bepreferable totransmit allissues
concerning thewatches andclocks category atthesame time.
5.4 Therepresentative ofColombia stated thattheCommittee should consider agroup ofproducts
intotality presented inaChapter, rather thanaproduct-by-product approach.
5.5 Mr.Janezcko, theChairman oftheTechnical Committee, pointed outthatanumber ofissues
hadalready beenreferred totheCommittee. Healsostated thattheTechnical Committee, atitsnext
meeting, would examine Chapters 25-27 and41-43. IftheTechnical Committee could notreach a
consensus onanyproducts inthese Chapters, itwould havetodecide whether itshould referthose
products totheCommittee. If,however, theTechnical Committee could come upwithaBasket 1
decision onallproducts inChapters 25-27 and41-43, there might benothing tobereferred tothe
Committee forsolution; those issues could bereferred totheCommittee asBasket 1decisions, in
addition to507Basket 1items thathadalready beentransmitted.
5.6 Therepresentative ofCanada stated thatonthebasisofthestatement made byMr.Janezcko,
itwasunderstood thattheTechnical Committee, atitsnextmeeting, would have concluded its
consideration onthesixChapters mentioned andtheresults would betransmitted totheCommittee
whether theywere inBasket 1orBasket 2.With respect towatches andclocks, iftheTechnical
Committee decided totakeupthatChapter asanagenda item, itwould consider thewhole Chapter 91,
andtheresults ofthese considerations would alsobetransmitted totheCommittee.
5.7 TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
6. MethodofworkconcerningissuestransmittedfromtheTechnicalCommitteeonRulesofOrigin
6.1 Therepresentative ofAustralia stated thattheCommittee needed alsotolookatitsownmethod
ofwork, rather thanfocusing onlyonthework donebytheTechnical Committee. Forinstance, the
issueconcerninggoodsobtainedorproducedonvessels,factoryships,structuresandinstallationsoutside
acountry hadnotyetbeenresolved. Furthermore, theCommittee hadnotyetlooked at507Basket 1G/RO/M/10
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decisions thathadbeentransmitted bytheTechnical Committee. Watches andclocks could beused
asanexample toseehowtheCommittee would address anunresolved issue inasituation where the
national position would bethesame, asinthecaseofAustralia, bothintheCommittee andinthe
Technical Committee.
6.2 Therepresentative oftheUnited States stated thattheUnited States maintained itsposition
thatissues should bedealtwithintotality rather thanonaproduct-by-product basis. Healsostated
thatMembers might beabletoconsider theworking method oftheCommittee intheinformal meeting
tobeheldinJuly1997, asagreed during informal consultations heldbytheChairperson.
6.3 Therepresentative ofColombia stated thattheCommittee hadnotyetreceived 507products
from theTechnical Committee. TheBasket 1andBasket 2decisions contained intheIntegrated
Negotiating Textwerenottransmitted totheCommittee foritsconsideration. Iftherewasagreement
onasingle product within aChapter, thatdidnotmean thataconsensus wasreached interms ofthe
Chapter intotality. TheCommittee should consider allproducts inaChapter. Shealsoagreed that
Members should exchange views onthemethod ofwork oftheCommittee attheinformal meeting
tobeheldinJuly.
6.4 Therepresentative ofHong Kong stated thatitwasdifficult fortheCommittee todiscuss and
formulate theCommittee 'smethod ofwork untilissues were actually received from theTechnical
Committee. Once theCommittee hadreceived thefirstgroup ofunresolved product-specific rules
inJuly, itwould beinabetter situation todiscuss andformulate acomprehensive work plan.
6.5 TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
7. Implementation ofArticle 2(h)oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin
7.1 Therepresentative oftheUnited States stated thatintheSingapore Ministerial Declaration
there wasreference tothegrowing importance oftrade facilitation matters which weremainly linked
tocustoms functions. TheUnited States noted, through discussions withitsexporters, thatinthe
Agreement onRules ofOrigin there weremore far-reaching obligations thaninanyother Agreement
interms ofcustoms-related matters. Inparticular Article 2(h)andparagraph 3(d)ofAnnex IItothe
Agreement provided thatassessments oforigin issued byMembers should remain validforthreeyears.
Hethenrequested thatthematter ofArticle 2(h)oftheAgreement beplaced ontheagenda ofthenext
meeting oftheCommittee inorder todiscuss howtoensure fullimplementation oftheprovision and
itsrelationship toenhancing trade facilitation fortheworld trading system, taking intoaccount the
work done bytheInternational Chamber ofCommerce andtheWorld Customs Organization in
developing good customs practices.
7.2 TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
8. Dateofthenextmeeting
8.1 TheChairperson proposed thefollowing dates forthenextmeetings oftheCommittee:
- informal meetings on8and9July1997;
- informal meetings on30September and1October 1997; and
- formal meeting on3October 1997.