   
  
G/L/1459  
G/MA/W/181  
 
1 December  2022 
(22-8952) Page: 1/4 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee on Market Access   
 
WTO RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC  
 
REPORT TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE  
COMMITTEE ON MARKET ACCESS  
The following report is being submitted by the Chairperson of the Committee on Market Access, 
Mr Kenya Uehara, at the request of the Chairperson of the Council for Trade in Goods1, and was 
prepared with the assistance of the Secretariat.  
1  BACKGROUND  
1.1.  The Committee on Market Access (CMA, or the Committee)  began its ongoing work in relation 
to the COVID -19 pandemic in May 2020. This report summarizes the main streams of work in t he 
CMA in relation to the COVID -19 pandemic , both as part of its regular meetings and through 
dedicated sessions . 
2  DEDICATED INFORMATION SESSIONS AND EXPERIENCE -SHARING SESSIONS ON 
TRADE  IN COVID -19-RELATED GOODS  
2.1.  On 28  January  2022, and a t the request of Members, the CMA held an Information session on 
trade in COVID -19-related goods  where  the WTO  Secretariat presented five reports and information 
notes  that were relevant to the work of the Committee , as well as the WTO-IMF COVID -19 Vaccine 
tracker . 
2.2.  At the inf ormal meeting of 1  February  2022, a number of delegations spoke to the importance 
of keeping Members informed of the latest developments in trade in COVID -19 goods and of 
providing  Members with the opportunity to share information and experiences through a dditional 
informal meetings of the CMA.  
2.3.  On 9 February  2022, the CMA  Chairperson convened informal open -ended consultations and 
asked Members to identify which areas or topics in relation to trade in COVID -19 goods could be 
further explored by the CMA , and in which format. Based on Members' interventions, the following 
topics were identified for technical discussions in the format of experience -sharing sessions:  
• The definition of essential goods to combat the pandemic ; that  is, how Members have defined 
such lists and updated them over time;  
• Classification of COVID -19 essential goods within the Harmonized System and challenges 
faced by Members with the tariff classification ; 
• How Members have monitored and measured trade in CO VID-19 essential goods, including 
through the creation of national tariff lines or statistical breakouts;  
• Sharing of Members' practices on measures aimed at easing trade in COVID -19 goods under 
the purview of the Committee , including, for example, in relat ion to tariff suspension, 
reduction, or elimination; and  
• How to improve transparency in export restrictions, as well as sharing of experiences with 
respect to the choices underpinning the use of such restrictions ( for example  why a certain 
type of measure was chosen, what factors determined the termination/non -renewal of 
certain measures, and whether a review of their effectiveness was undertaken).  
 
1 Document  JOB/CTG/18 . G/L/1459 • G/MA/W/181  
 
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  2.4.  The CMA organized  five experience -sharing sessions to discuss these topics , respectively on 
4 March 2022 , 26 April 2022 , 18 July 2022 , 16 September 2022 , and 21 November 2022 . At each 
session, Members  volunteered to share information and data on their national experiences in relation 
to the relevant topics. In light of the close relationship  between some of these topics  with the 
application of the Harmonized System  (HS), the World Customs Organization (WCO)  was invited to 
participate  in the first two  sessions on classification and monitoring of trade in COVID -19 goods. The 
Secretariat summarized the discussions of each experience -sharing session in 
document   JOB/MA/152  and its addenda.  
2.5.  As a result of the discussions that took place during the first two sessions, the 
CMA Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, s ubmitted  a letter to the Harmonized System 
Committee (HSC) of the WCO ( G/MA/406 ) to raise awareness among WCO  delegates of some of the 
key issues that had been faced by WTO  Members with respect to the classification of 
COVID -19 essential goods , and to propose practical suggestions to improve the HS  classification of 
certain essential medical goods in the next version of the nomenclature (HS2027 ). The CMA  letter 
was included on the agenda of the 70th Session of the HSC, which took  place in September  2022, 
and the CMA  Chairperson and the WTO  Secretariat were invited to attend the meeting. The 
statement by the CMA Chairperson to the HSC was circulated in document  JOB/MA/15 5. As of the 
date of this report , the WCO has been  discussing two  possible amendments  to the HS 2027 stemming 
from the CMA  process with respect to the classification of (i)  facemasks and respirators and 
(ii) ambulances and mobile clinics.  
2.6.  At the fourth  experience -sharing session that took place on 16  September  2022, several 
Members expressed interest in continuing this type of technical discussion s in the CMA and proposed 
to hold a fifth  session focusing mainly on the lessons learned from th e COVID -19 pandemic , which 
should also involve other stakeholders. To this end,  a session with external stakeholders was 
organized by the Committee on 21 Novemb er 2022, with the participation of speakers from  the 
private sector  (DHL and Western Union of Dominica, CEPI, and Medtronic) and other international 
organizations  (Organisation for Economic Co -operation and Development (OECD))2. Members also 
requested the Secretariat to prepare a report compiling the main lessons learned by Members in 
consequence of  the COVID -19 pandemic .3 
2.7.  The Chairperson reported on the COVID -19 experience -sharing sessions at the formal meetings 
of the Committee in March4 and October  2022.5 
3  REGULAR COMMITTEE WORK  
3.1.  On 20 May 2020, the CMA was the first   WTO body (after the General Council) to hold a virtual 
informal meeting during the lockdown , which had  COVID -19 as the main substantive topic on the 
agenda. At that meeting, the Secretariat was invited to present its information notes relating to 
"Trade in Medical Goods " and " Export Prohibitions and Restrictions ", which had been released in 
April 2020. In addition, the Chairperson invited Members to share experiences with respect to the 
COVID -19-related measures  that they had introduced , including those which had been notified to 
the CMA under the  2012 Decision on the notification of Q uantitative Restrict ions (QR Decision) , some 
of which already contained information on temporary export restrictions and prohibitions on goods 
essential to combat the pandemic . 
3.2.  Moreover, s ome Members had also submitted communications to the C MA reporting  on 
unilateral trade measures  aimed at easing  the importation of COVID -19 essential goods . It should 
be noted that information on such  trade-easing measures  has been shared by Members on a 
voluntary basis  since currently there is no notification r equirement with respect to these types of 
measures.  
3.3.  The item "Trade -related measures relating to the COVID -19 pandemic " has been included on 
the agenda of the formal meetings of the CMA since June  2020. Under this agenda item, the 
Committee has regularly consider ed: (i) a report by the Secretariat listing the notifications relating 
 
2 See https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/mark_23nov22_e.htm  and 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmpWROHY8XQ   
3 Document JOB/MA/152/Add.4 (t o be issued).  
4 Document  G/MA/M/76 , paragraphs  8.1-8.39. 
5 Document  RD/MA/105 . G/L/1459 • G/MA/W/181  
 
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  to COVID -19 (document  G/MA/W/157  and its revisions ); and (ii)  the voluntary communications with 
unilateral measures  submitted  by Member s (circulated under the G/MA/W  document serie s). 
3.4.  At the formal meeting of 12 and 16  November  2020, Members further tasked the Secretariat 
with preparing  a more detailed report summarizing the  content of these notifications and voluntary 
communications . The report , entitled "Summary of notified export restrictions and trade easing  
measures relating to the COVID -19 pandemic " (document  G/MA/W/168  and its revisions) , has been 
presented at every formal meeting of the Committee since 29  April 2021, under t he same agenda 
item. 
3.5.  At the request of Members6, this report was modified in October  2021 to compile and analyse , 
in addition  to the measures submitted to the CMA , information on trade and trade -related measures 
collected as part of the WTO's Trade Monitoring Exercise , as listed in the webpage COVID -19: 
Measures affecting trade in goods . 
3.1  Transparency  
3.6.  Under the agenda item entitled "Trade-related measures relating to the COVID -19 pandemic ", 
the CMA has examined approximately  100 QR notifications containing 68  export prohibitions and 
restrictions by 35  Members , as well as a total of 28  communications by 15  Members containing 
41 unilateral trade-easing measures on imports of COVID -19 goods . These notifications and 
communications have been actively discussed in all the CMA formal meetings since the start of the 
pandemic , and have contributed to enhanc ing transparency regarding Members' trade policy 
responses .7 
3.7.  In terms of the content of these QR  notifications and voluntary communications:  
a. QR notifications : Export restrictions and prohibitions have been most frequently used in 
the early phases of the pandemic, predominantly in the first and second  quarter of 2020 . 
These restrictions covered different categories of products following the evolution of the 
pandemic. Personal protective equipment, sanitizers and disinfectants, but also foodstuff s, 
were among the  most restricted categories at the outset of the pandemic . At a later stage , 
COVID -19 vaccines, test kits and other medical devices and equipment were also subject 
to these measures . 
b. Voluntary communications : These communications typically included information 
concerning trade -easing measures  adopted  by Members  in response to the 
COVID -19 pandemic , which sought to facilitate access to those goods considered essential  
to combat it. The trade -easing measures included : (i) tax-related measures, such as the 
reduction/suspension/ elimination  of import tariffs, internal  taxes and other duties and 
charges to minimi ze costs to importers, business es and consumers ; as well as 
(ii) simplified customs procedures, expedite d clearance, and paperless trade, to accelerate 
the import process and ensure resilient supply chains. The main categories of products 
covered by the trade -easing  measures appear to be similar in nature to those products 
that were subject to export prohibitions and restrictions . 
3.2  Specific trade concerns  
3.8.  At the CMA formal  meeting of 30  April 2021, on e trade concern was raised by Australia  in 
relation to the European Union's vaccine export transparency mechanism , which was supported by 
11 additional Members .8 There have been no other trade concern s involving measures introduced in 
connection with the COVID-19 pandemic  in the CMA . 
 
6 G/MA/M/74 , paras. 5.31 and 5.32.  
7 See minutes G/MA/M/72 , G/MA/M/73 , G/MA/M/74 , G/MA/M/75  and G/MA/M/7 6. 
8 G/MA/ M/74, paras. 13.1-13.30 . G/L/1459 • G/MA/W/181  
 
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  3.3  Information notes  
3.9.  In addition to the regular  Committee's reports  and documents  described above  on COVID -19, 
the following information notes prepared by the WTO  Secretariat  were presented and/or mentioned 
by Members during  their discussions  at the CMA , both in the formal and informa l context : 
• Trade in medical goods in the context of tackling COVID -19 (20.07.2022) ; 
• Joint Indicative List of Critical COVID -19 Vaccine Inputs for Consultation  (07.06.202 2); 
• COVID -19 vaccine production and tariffs on vaccine inputs  (08.10.2021) ; 
• Indicative list of trade -related bottleneck s and trade -facilitating measures on critical 
products to combat COVID -19 (08.10.2021 ); 
• Improving trade data for products essential to fight COVID -19: A possible way for ward 
(01.07.2021) ; 
• How WTO members have used trade measures to expedite access to COVID -19 critical 
medical goods and services  (18.09.2020 ); 
• Export prohibitions and restrictions  (23.04.2020 ); 
• Transparency – why it matters at times of crisis  (07.04.2020) . 
 
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