WORLD TRADE G/L/215
4December 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5323)
REPORT (1997) OFTHE COMMITTEE ONMARKET ACCESS
1. TheCommittee onMarket Access heldfiveformal meetings in1997: on3March, 8April,
24June, 29September and2December. 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 Mrs.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. With aviewtoassisting interested Members, theSecretariat
would transpose theavailable HS96 documentation ontoelectronic media inastandard database system.
Asconcerns thelongterm, anumber ofimportant issues wereraised which could leadtochanges or
amendments tothedecisions currently inforce. Thiswork wascontinuing intheframework ofthe
Council forTrade inGoods.
6. Atitsmeeting of2December, the Committee noted that according to
document G/MA/TAR/2/Rev.12 there were 38HS96 submissions, only three ofwhich had
been finalized andthereby certified. Ofthe39Members currently covered bywaivers, there were
1Seedocument WT/L/243 .
./.G/L/215
Page2
eight Members thathadnotyetsubmitted thenecessary documentation. TheCommittee noted that
delegations were making strong efforts tosolve thepending issues.
7. Withregard 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 andsuggested thatthismatter beincluded inthework programme ofthe
Committee for1998. Onedelegation wasoftheviewthat,astheformat andcontent forthesubmissions
hadbeenagreed justfivemonths agobytheCommittee, itwashisopinion thattheformat should not
bechanged again. Therefore, inhisview, there wasnoneedatthisstage forfurther clarification.
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 and2December, theCommittee examined theprogress of
theimplementation ofthedecision ontheIntegrated DataBaseandtooknoteofthestatus ofsubmission
oftherequired data. AtitsDecember meeting, theCommittee agreed, asoutlined indocument
G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1/Add.12,onthedeadlines forsupplying IDBsubmissions. Forthefirstsubmission,
thedeadline forsupplying 1996 tariffs andimports and1997 tariffs would be30December 1997.
Inviewofinherent difficulties thatmaybeassociated withthefiling ofafirstsubmission, itwasagreed
thatsome limited flexibility withthistiming could beenvisaged. Forsubsequent submissions, the
deadlines forsubmission oftariffs ofthecurrent yearandofimports oftheprevious yearwould be
30March and30September respectively. ForMembers whodonotbasetheirtariff onacalendar
year, itwasagreed thatthedeadlines could beadjusted totakeintoaccount thedates when thenational
tariff comes intoforce. TheCommittee alsoagreed ontheformat ofareport tobecirculated ona
regular basiswhich would summarize thestatus ofIDBsubmissions received bytheSecretariat. The
Committee agreed togrant access totheIDBtocountries which areintheprocess ofaccession tothe
WTO, asoutlined indocument G/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1/Add.12.Access would begranted onthecondition
thattheythemselves havealready provided theinformation required fortheIDB, inconformity with
theagreed-upon deadlines andasdescribed inG/MA/IDB/1/Rev.1.
11. Atitsmeeting of2December 1997, theCommittee examined document G/MA/IDB/W/3 which
wasputforward toinitiate discussion ontechnical assistance fortheIDB. Itwasagreed tocontinue
discussing thisissue withaviewtofurther elaborating themodalities oftechnical assistance forthe
IDB.
2Inpreparation.