. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG11/M/4
16 June 1999
(99-2447)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Twenty-Second Session
EXAMINATION OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT -
ACCESSION OF BULGARIA
Note on the Meeting of 3 May 1999
Chairman: Mr. A. Stoler (USA)
1. This meeting was convened  in document WTO/AIR/1063.
2. Under Agenda Items D.XII, the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements took up the
examinations of the accession of the Bulgaria to the Central European Free Trade
Agreement (CEFTA).
3. The Chairman welcomed the Members to the meeting and began by apologising for any
confusion that may have taken place earlier in the meeting and particularly during the morning
session.  There had been confusion within his delegation over whether there was an authority toconvene meetings in the absence of a Director General.  He said that the Committee how had some
clarification on the legal basis for conducting meetings.  The meeting would take up Agenda
Item D.XII dealing with the accession of Bulgaria to CEFTA.  Regarding the accession of Bulgaria to
CEFTA, the Chairman drew the attention of the Committee to the notification received from the
mission of Poland on behalf of the CEFTA Parties recently distributed as document WT/REG11/N/5,
dated 24 March 1999, which provided details of Bulgaria's accession to CEFTA.  The official text of
the Agreement on accession, which was signed on 17 July 1998, had been distributed as documentWT/REG11/10.  It was his understanding that the th ree bilateral Agreements signed between Bulgaria
and Slovenia, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, respectively, were superseded by this
accession Agreement.  He recalled the Terms of Reference, adopted by the Council on Trade in
Goods on 25 March 1999, which had been: "To examine in the light of the relevant provisions of the
GATT 1994, the Agreement on the accession of Bulgaria to the Central European Free TradeAgreement and to submit a report to the Council on Trade in Goods.".  He said that these Terms of
Reference applied with the following understanding:  "It is understood that the understanding read out
by the Chairman of the Council fo r Trade in Goods under item 7 of the Agenda of the meeting of the
Council for Trade in Goods on 20 February 1995, as contained in document WT/REG3/1, will apply
mutatis mutandis  to the examination.  It is also understood that, during the examination, due account
will be taken of the intrinsic differences between customs unions and free-trade areas.  It is furthermorenoted that, for practical reasons, the examination of this agreement will be carried out jointly with the
examination of the Central European Free Trade Agr eement itself, which is currently under way in the
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. "
4. The representative of Bulgaria referred Memb ers to the examinations of the bilateral Free
Trade Agreements between Bulgaria and the separate CEFTA members.  These examinations had
been carried out in parallel with the examination of CEFTA.  These bilateral agreements, which were
superseded by the accession of the Bulgaria to CEFTA, were substantively identical to the CEFTA
Agreement.  The further examination of CEFTA, and the report on the CEFTA examination, couldWT/REG11/M/4
Page 2
integrate the data and information of the examinations over the bilateral agreements Bulgaria with
CEFTA members, which had been superseded by the accession of Bulgaria to CEFTA.
5. The representative of Australia said the his authorities were considering all the relevant
documents in relation to the accession of Bulgaria and that his delegation would be submitting
questions in writing.
6. Observing that there were no further questions, the Chairman suggested that Members with
outstanding questions submit them to the Secretariat in writing not later that 17 May 1999; this would
allow the Parties enough time to submit replies in advance of the next session.
7. The Committee took note of the comments made.
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