WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/377
19 October 1999
(99-4502)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Proposals Regarding Implementation Issues
(Paragraph 9(a)(i) of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration)
Communication from Cuba, Dominican Republic and Honduras
The following communication, dated 18 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the Dominican Republic.
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DRAFT MINISTERIAL DECISION ON PREFERENCES
Ministers,
Mindful of the need to facilitate the phased and balanced integration of developing countries
into the multilateral trading system;
Recognizing the persistent situation of dependence on a limited number of commodities faced
by the structurally-weak, vulnerable and small developing countries;
Agree on the following:
1. By virtue of the present Decision, a waiver shall be granted to all preference-giving countries
from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2010.
2. Under no circumstances shall Members of the WTO challenge this waiver for its entire
duration.
3. Preference-giving countries shall not subject preferential market access to conditionalities,
whether trade-related or not, in order to comply fully with the provisions of the Enabling Clause.
4. Preference-giving countries shall not initiate any form of unilateral action against preference-
receiving countries, including through "warnings", "watch lists", "priority watch lists" or any otherform of discriminatory characterization; and
5. Compliance with this decision shall be monitored by the General Council through
examination of notifications presented by pr eference-giving countries every three months.
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