 
 RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/IT/M/35 
24 June 2004 
 (04-2720) 
Committee of Participants on the Expansion of 
Trade in Information Technology Products  
 
 
 
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 24 APRIL 2003 
Chairmen: Mr. Preben Gregersen (Denma rk) and Mr. Hisashi Yoshikawa (Japan)  
Agenda of the Meeting            P a g e  
 
1. Election of  Chairperson..................................................................................................... ...1 
2. Review of the Status of Implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in 
 Information Technology Pr oducts (G/IT/1/Rev.27)...........................................................2 
3. Non-tariff Measures Work Progr amme (G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1, 
 G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.1, G/IT/SPE C/Q4/22, and G/IT/SPEC/Q4/23)............................2 
4. EMC/EMI Pilot Project Workshop (G/IT/SPEC/Q3/4) ....................................................4 
5. Divergences in Classifying Information Technology Products (G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1)..7 
6.  New Participants ........................................................................................................... ........7 
7. Other Business.............................................................................................................. .........9 
 
  The Chairman
 stated that the proposed agenda for this meeting was circulated in 
WTO/AIR/2068 on 11 April 2003. With re ference to the agenda, three items were proposed under "Other 
Business":  Japan's proposal in the Doha Develo pment Agenda NAMA Negotiating Group, the review 
of product coverage, and the date  of the next meeting of the Co mmittee.  The agenda was adopted  
with these additions.   1. Election of Chairperson 
1.1 The Chairman
 stated that the Committee normally elected a new Chairperson on an annual basis.  
This matter had been placed on the agenda of the 28 January meeting.  However, there had not been 
agreement on a new Chairperson at that point in time, and thus the matter was deferred to the April meeting.  Pursuant to consultations by the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods, a consensus had informally been reached on the election of Mr. Hisashi Yoshikawa (Japan) as the new Chairman of the 
Committee.   The Chairman proposed  the election of Mr. Yoshikawa.   
 1.2 The Committee elected
 Mr. Yoshikawa as the new Chairman of the Committee of Participants 
on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products.  
1.3 Mr. Yoshikawa assumed
 his role as Chairman of the Committee. 
 1.4 The outgoing Chairman
 expressed his thanks to Members of the Committee, of the Secretariat, 
and the new Chairman.  
1.5 The incoming Chairman
, on behalf of the Committee, expres sed his appreciation to the outgoing 
Chairman, Mr. Gregersen.  
 G/IT/M/35 
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 2. Review of the Status of Implementation of  the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in 
Information Technology Products (G/IT/1/Rev.27) 
2.1 The Chairman
 stated that an overview of implementation of the Ministerial Declaration on 
Trade in Information Technology Products was c ontained in document G/IT/1/Rev.27.  This 
document showed the participants and the implem entation issues pertaining to the WTO procedures 
for implementation.         
 2.2 The Committee took note
 of the Chairman's statement.   
 
3. Non-tariff Measures Work Programme (G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1, 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.1, G/IT/SPE C/Q4/22, and G/IT/SPEC/Q4/23) 
3.1 The Chairman  stated that the Committee had taken up  a number of matters as concerned the 
NTM Work Programme.  There was the matter of the EMC/EMI Pilot Project Workshop, which had 
been held earlier and which would be discussed separ ately under the next agenda item.  There was 
also the Survey on EMC/EMI, as well as submissions  on analysis and ways to proceed with the NTM 
Work Programme.  At the last meeting, it had been agreed that the Secretariat would update two of 
the overview papers as they related to the work under this agenda item.  The Committee now had 
before it the updated paper on the overview of re sponses to the EMC/EMI Survey, as contained in 
document G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.1, and the update d overview of proposals to the NTM Work 
Programme, in document G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev. 1.  These would provide good guides for the 
Committee to continue its work in this area.  Two formal replies to the survey had been received and 
circulated since the last meeting.  These respon ses were from the Philippines and Thailand and were 
circulated in documents G/IT/SPEC/Q4/22 and G/IT/ SPEC/Q4/23, respectively.  In addition, since the 
issuance of the Airgram, a new submission from the United States had also been received and was in 
the process of being formally circulated.  Thus, there were now 23 responses to the survey.  With 
regard to the Work Programme, he  stated that there had been el even original submissions from 
participants on identification of NTMs which we re circulated in the G/IT/SPEC/Q2 series of 
documents.  There had been four submissions on an alysis and ways to proceed and these had been 
circulated in the G/IT/SPEC/Q3 series.  The Chairman  encouraged all delegations  to continue to make 
contributions to the Work Programme to the extent they had not already done so, or if they had additional information to so contribute.  He  also  encouraged a full respon se to the EMC/EMI survey 
so that the Committee could benefit from the information supplied by all participants. 
 
3.2 The delegate of the United States
 requested the Secretariat to give some background on the 
NTM Work Programme to assist those participants  who were not aware of the Committee's history 
regarding the NTM work.  While the Committee had a very full discussion during the Workshop on one section of the NTM Work Programme, it would be very helpful to have a sense of the process of 
identification of the NTBs that were included in G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1 and whether the process 
was on-going.  While the Committee had agreed to st art with the Pilot Project of EMI/EMC there was 
also a desire to look at other issues at this point but the question was how to proceed. Therefore, there 
were a number of participants who needed more  background on how the Committee had arrived at its 
current position so that it could think about how to go forward.  
3.3 A member of the Secretariat
 (Mrs. D. Probst) gave background information on the 
development and progress of the NTM Work Programme. The NTM Work Programme began at the end of 2000 and had three phases as outlined in the NTM Work Programme document (G/IT/19). The 
first phase was the identification of NTM barriers to IT products as identified in the submissions by 
the participants. Phase two consisted of an analysis  of the NTMs including the economic impact of the 
specific NTMs identified. Phase Three was when  the Committee would draw conclusions  and 
perhaps make decisions on what to do on the out come of the NTM Work Programme. The Committee 
was currently somewhere between phases two and thr ee, but there would be no discouragement if any  G/IT/M/35 
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 participant still wanted to identify NTMs, that w as part of the openness of the programme. There had 
been at least eleven submissions identifying differe nt types of NTMs (G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1.). The 
NTMs identified were quite wide-ranging, although  the majority fell within the standards and the 
conformity assessment area. Other identified NTMs  included customs procedures, import licensing, as 
well as other issues to be found in the overview document. As the process proceeded, the Committee 
had focused on one of those NTMs identified, and the first one chosen was the EMC/EMI conformity 
assessment issue. That led to the Pilot Project which in turn led to the Workshop that had just taken 
place over the last day and a half. The decision to  proceed with the EMC/EMI issue was not to 
sideline or put more importance on one NTM versus a nother, but simply to proceed in a practical way 
at that point in time by focusing on one particular NTM that seemed to be of wide interest to the 
membership of the Committee and on which there were not so many diverse points of view. The 
Committee had wanted to see how a Pilot Project co uld work with respect to one NTM and then see 
how it could be applied to others as the work proceeded. Therefore, the Committee started with 
EMI/EMC conformity assessment in 2002, even th ough for organisational reasons the Workshop was 
held in 2003.  However, there was an equal opport unity to take other issues forward if the Committee 
so decided. There had been no need to forma lly conclude the Work Programme and the Committee 
had essentially just begun its examination of the NTMs listed in document G/IT/SPEC/Q2/11/Rev.1.  
 3.4 The delegate of Australia
 thanked the Secretariat for its helpful summary of the Committee's 
work.  It was not clear to his delegation wh ether the Committee had exhausted the EMC/EMI 
discussion that had taken place over the previ ous few days and whether an update of 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.1 could  be produced in orde r to take into account recent submissions.  While 
this would not necessarily be a complete document, since further responses could still be submitted, it 
would give a more complete picture of how the exercise was progressing.  3.5 The delegate of the United States
 stated that the Committee seemed to be struggling with how 
its work might relate to, or work in parallel w ith the negotiations which could address many of the 
same issues, both horizontally and potentially verti cally.  Part of the struggle of trying to figure out 
how to proceed on the NTM issue related directly to some of the concepts that were being pursued in 
the negotating sessions. In particular, the United St ates was struggling to define a possible sectoral 
approach or modality for NTB negotiations that had some relevance to the work of this Committee. 
Their experience was that when the main global pl ayers in several sectors, particularly intensively 
globalized trading sectors, were asked to identify the primary barriers they faced, they drew up a 
common list of barriers. She wondered whether, in  looking at the list of barriers contained in 
G/IT/SPEC/Q4/19/Rev.1, any conclusions could be drawn about common barriers and how the 
Committee might want to focus its work.  The Co mmittee had taken a very good step with the 
EMC/EMI process, and while she was not necessarily tr ying to draw a direct link between it and the 
negotiating process, there was an obvious linkage that could not be completely ignored.  It might be 
necessary to have some discussions, in order to have a sense of what a logical next step might be in 
the Committee. 
 
3.6 The delegate of Australia  thanked the United States delegate for her helpful comments on 
what was a very important issue. His delegation would like to see a continuing discussion on the 
NTM issue, bearing in mind that a broader discuss ion, with a view to negotiating commitments, was 
taking place in another part of the WTO.  His dele gation would support a further exploration of where 
the linkages might lie and of the relationship be tween the discussion in the ITA Committee on IT 
NTMs and the other negotiations being undertak en. That being said, his delegation would not 
necessarily see the negotiation of binding commitmen ts on NTMs taking place in the ITA Committee, 
but through its activities, the Committee could add value to the broader concern of Members in 
eliminating NTMs or reducing their impact thr ough the activities of the ITA Committee.  He hoped 
the matter could be taken up under the agenda of a future meeting to allow for this issue to be 
explored.  G/IT/M/35 
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 3.7 The Committee took note
 of the statements made.  
 
4. EMC/EMI Pilot Project Workshop (G/IT/SPEC/Q3/4) 
4.1 The Chairman  addressed the issue of the Workshop on EMC/EMI, which had emanated from 
a proposal by Canada as contained in document G/ IT/SPEC/Q3/4. He invited Mr. Gregersen, the out-
going Chairman, who had chaired the Workshop, to give a brief summary of the event.  
 4.2 The outgoing Chairman
 (Mr. Gregersen), stated that th e ITA Committee had held a Workshop 
on EMC/EMI during the previous day and a half. It had been well-attended and there had been very 
good presentations made on the first day by a variety of regulators, giving thei r different approaches 
to regulating EMC/EMI phenomenon. Five regulators plus the Secretariat made presentations on the 
first day of the Workshop. On the second day, four  volunteers from among the participants had taken 
part in a panel discussion and made short presentati ons and stimulated the broader discussions.  This 
was followed by an open exchange of views on the ne xt steps and possible conclusions that could be 
drawn. Many participants were very grateful for th e wealth of information presented. Secondly, it was 
noted that the actual regulations themselves were pr obably less the barrier to be concerned about since 
there was much harmonization already.  Rather, a lo t of the problem remained with the administrative 
procedures, paperwork, timing and costs associated with them. There were a number of suggestions 
made on possible ways forward. For example, it wa s suggested that the Committee could take small 
refined steps on moving the process forward by perhap s identifying products or areas that had a low 
risk tolerance in terms of health and safety etc ., and try to apply a lightweight regulatory approach. 
The term that was used was "bab y steps". If this was feasible and could be implemented, the group 
could learn from this experience and take the appr opriate next steps. Secondly, a best-practice 
approach was suggested.  Under the best-pract ice approach those who had experience with 
deregulation, post-market enforcemen t etc., could provide their experiences to others so that they in 
turn could learn from them. A best-p ractice approach could also involve capacity-building. Thirdly, it 
had been pointed out that there were different envi ronments for each participant and that it might be 
too early to find a "one size fits all" approach or  one option for each and every participant. However, 
it was considered a good idea to keep the matter unde r review and to keep information on the issue 
updated.  He pointed out that as a part of the fo llow-up to the Workshop, the presentations made were 
being placed on the WTO web-site so that everyone could access the information, and also a participant list had been dr awn up and made available. 
 
4.3 The Chairman
 thanked Mr. Gregersen for the overview and invited participants to comment 
on the Workshop if they wished to do so.  4.4 The delegate of the European Communities
 stated that the EMC/EMI Workshop had been a 
very good experience.  The subject of EMC/EMI ha d been deliberately chosen as one sub-set of 
identified barriers to allow the Committee to study th e various effects of the application of technical 
regulations. The results of the Workshop were ve ry valuable, providing good insight into the 
problems as they existed. He agreed with the out going Chairman's summing up of the Workshop, that 
it was not the standards themselves which seemed to cr eate the problems, rather it was much more the 
administrative procedures being used for the implemen tation of those standards. Different approaches 
were in place among the ITA participants, some  involving more administrative procedures than 
others, and there was certainly a possibility for the Committee to brainstorm on whether it would be 
possible to take appropriate action to facilitate th e trade in IT products. Reference had already been 
made to the fact that the barrier s identified by the Comm ittee were basically in the area of procedures, 
including paperwork that involved costs for the industries as well as causing delays in getting IT 
products to the market, something of particular im portance considering the very short life cycles of 
many of those products. Also, some ITA participan t countries already had existing structures in place 
for the certification schemes and the Committee would have to take these structures into account as 
well as problems that could arise if the system and procedures involved were to be changed.  G/IT/M/35 
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 Therefore, he proposed that the Committee might consider identifying a sub-set of IT products which 
would represent very low, if any, risk at all and use these sub-set of products as another Pilot Project 
which would focus on the implementation of  some "lightweight procedures". This was an idea which 
they would like to put to the ITA Committee participants, although they had no precise proposal on which products could be the subject of such a me asure. However, it would certainly be a small, 
practical, step forward from which appropriate expe riences could be gained and it could serve as a 
guide for further steps. The European Communities were convinced that addressing NTBs would help 
the Committee in its endeavour to facilitate trade in IT products which was the aim of the ITA 
Agreement, not only doing away with customs tari ffs, which had already been done to a very large 
extent, but also to tackle, in an effective and effi cient way, the NTBs which were still being applied to 
trade in these products.   
 4.5 The delegate of Canada
 thanked the outgoing Chairman for his work in relation to the 
organisation of the Workshop, which had originally been proposed by his delegation.  He noted that 
the delegate from the EC had very eloquently reca lled the context of the Workshop, which was to get 
a better understanding of how, in a very practical wa y, the Committee could fu rther facilitate market 
access for IT products focusing on the very specific i ssue of EMC/EMI. In his view, it had been an 
extremely useful exercise in that regard.  Th ere had been good representation at the Workshop, as 
well as good participation from both regulators and regul ar delegates of the ITA Committee. That was 
exactly the value added provided by such a Works hop - to have a dialogue among the regulators to get 
a sense of the different approaches and the level of c onvergence, and to have that within the context of 
trying to find ways to improve further market ac cess for IT products. Many interesting ideas had been 
introduced, as were described by the outgoing Ch airman, Mr. Gregersen, in his oral summary.   
 4.6 He mentioned two issues in particular that had potential for further examination in the ITA 
Committee as possible ways to improve  market access for IT products. First, in the area of conformity 
assessment, technical regulations did not seem to crea te problems since they were highly standardised 
and relatively uniform across most countries, but  real differences existe d in the associated 
administrative procedures and conformity assessment processes. Even in the harmonized area of conformity assessment three or four types of procedures were being followed and it could be 
worthwhile for the Committee to examine how it c ould further encourage convergence of approaches 
in that regard. A second issue was the question of the recognition of equivalence standards. During 
the Workshop it was learned that several countri es were recognising, either on a reciprocal or 
unilateral basis, standards set by other jurisdictions .  Several participants had noted the difficulty of 
negotiating bilateral MRAs in this area and, theref ore, recognition of equivalence standards might be 
an approach to overcome the difficulties often re lated to MRAs. EMC/EMI was an area where it 
would seem that such recognition could hold better pros pects or raise less regulatory concerns than in 
other areas. In addition, Mr Gregersen had ment ioned that in the context of the Workshop, 
suggestions had been made on best practices, and fro m Canada's point of view  this could be a key 
element and was one of the lessons they drew fro m the Workshop. Some of the participants noted 
their experiences in terms of deregulation and how they had been able to accomplish it. That was something Canada would like to further reflect on, with the possibility of preparing a paper to share 
with the Committee on their experience, especially in  terms of deregulation in the area of EMC/EMI. 
In conclusion, he considered that it would be usef ul for Committee participants to have a written copy 
of Mr Gregersen's report on the Workshop and requested if this could be done.  4.7 The Chairman
 stated that Mr Gregersen's statement could either be included in the Minutes of 
this meeting or prepared as a separate document.   
 
4.8 The delegate of Canada  stated that a separate document might allow a broader visibility of the 
report, given that this document woul d be of interest to regulators.  
 G/IT/M/35 
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 4.9 The delegate of India
 thanked all the participants for sharing their views and experiences with 
respect to the regulatory machinery in place in di fferent countries. The dialogue between regulators 
and trade officials had been useful in order to better understand participants' experiences with respect 
to the various regulatory approaches, whether it was deregulation, conformity assessment, mutual recognition or equivalence.  They also took note of  the various ideas put forward by some participants 
such as the Canadian delegation's comment with r espect to the experience of various members in 
terms of regulatory reforms for EMC/EMI, and stated  that they would like to reflect further as they 
proceeded on this issue.  His delegation would be very happy to have more contributions which would 
benefit all participants even though the Committee was not at the stage where it could reach some 
conclusion. Regarding the proposal to have the su mmary of the outgoing Chairman circulated, he 
presumed that it would be circulated under his ow n responsibility and that he would not have any 
objection to it forming part of the Minutes or being circulated as a separate document. 
 4.10 The delegate of the United States
 stated that all participants had found it to be a useful 
discussion and that it was a very good example of how tackling the practical problems and getting the 
different prospectives of all interested parties help ed to begin the process of moving forward.  They 
were pleased that the idea of looking at best practices had received some enthusiasm. The United 
States believed that EMC/EMI was an area where global thinking had greatly evolved and where a 
number of participants had spent a lot of time an d pain trying to undo mistakes they had made. 
Participants could perhaps learn from those other part icipants and avoid repeating some of those same 
mistakes. The United States would be very interested  in working on this and would be willing to put 
forward their experiences, including in particular, the area of deregulation.  
 4.11 They found several points that came out in the Workshop particularly interesting, one of which was the difficulty in overcoming bureaucra tic resistance to change once there was a 
bureaucracy in place that was tied to a particular regi me or process.  She thought it could be because 
officials were employed in a function of licencing or regulating certain areas or maybe it was because 
there was a fee structure in place that made it hard to give up those fees.  The United States had given the example in the Workshop of how they had de regulated a number of areas within the Federal 
Communication Commission and had moved to a more supplier-based conformity assessment. While they had moved many staff, there were no jobs lo st at the Federal Communications Commission, but 
in fact, more jobs had been created. The expe riences drawn from the range of countries that had 
deregulated might give some confidence to those who were facing the very real challenge of 
deregulation. Another point that arose in the discussi on was the question of the different perspectives 
from which those issues could be addressed. As a pot ential exporter it would be necessary to also 
consider the import side of regulations, yet throu ghout the presentations people were trying to focus 
on getting it right for exporting when in fact it was also necessary to get it right for importing in order 
to help that process.  This also highlighted another theme from the Workshop which was the 
importance of relying on the private sector thr oughout the process of developing regulations but 
certainly throughout the process of conformity assess ment. The more that regulators relied on the fact 
that the business community had a huge stake in getti ng it right, the less they would feel the need to 
over-regulate. Her delegation had f ound that session extremely helpful and it was also a good example 
for considering what might be done in other areas and how other NTMs might be approached. 
However, even though some ideas had been floated, th e question of the next logical step to take still 
remained. Her delegation supported the request to  have the report on the Workshop provided in 
writing, and have it circulated separately. Overall,  the Workshop had been a very useful exercise from 
which they had learned a lot. If the Committee coul d build upon it, then everyone would be all the 
richer.  
 
4.12 The delegate of Australia
 agreed that the EMC/EMI Work shop had been a very useful 
experience, and they were very pleased to note the participation of representatives from the capitals as 
well as other delegates and industry people who sh ared their views and experiences on the issue. 
Australia agreed very strongly that it would be usef ul if future work in the area could clarify best  G/IT/M/35 
 Page 7 
 
 
 practices. In particular, they would have in mind those members who were still considering what form 
their system would take in the future, what lessons  they could draw on and what models they could 
consider. They would not go so far as to suggest recommending a "one-size-fits-all" approach because 
there were important differences in the capacities and in the situations facing members that had to be 
taken into account. However, in clarifying 'best prac tices' it would be necessary to have an idea of the 
issues around which  those practices could be gr ouped and this process could be guided by the 
suggestions made by ITA Committee particip ants on how to take it forward.   
 4.13 The Committee took note
 of the statements made. 
 5. Divergences in Classifying Information Technology Products (G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1)  
5.1 The Chairman
 recalled that in previous meetings the Committee had referred to the last meeting 
of customs experts that had taken place in May 2002. The report of that meeting had not been presented 
due to reasons noted previously, however, the re port had since been circulated in document 
G/IT/14/Rev.1/Add.1 and it gave an overview of the classification issues discussed by the experts.  He 
also recalled that at the last meeting the Secretariat had provided an overview of the outcome of the 
Customs Experts meeting.  He highlighted that a lo t of good work had been accomplished and said that 
the Committee should not lose sight of it.  Many items had reached consensus of one or more classifications, and some important items had been referred to the formal Committee for consideration. He also noted that one item was recommended to be sent to the WCO for its classification opinion. Thus, he believed that it was now time for the Committee to revert to the report and to continue to make 
progress on classification divergences.   
 
5.2 The delegate of the European Communities
 stated that he had been one of the Customs 
Experts at that meeting and agreed with the Chairm an they had made a lot of progress. He suggested 
that document G/IT/W/6/Rev.1 should be updated be cause it would facilitate the future work of the 
Committee.  He also suggested that  at its next meeting which was to take place before the summer 
break, the Committee should consider the item proposed  for referral to the WCO. The reason for this 
was that the Harmonised System (HS) Committee met twice a year, in May and in November and as 
the ITA Committee would not be able to send it by May, there was a time constraint for the 
November meeting.  He noted that the ITA declar ation contained a reference to modernising the HS 
nomenclature and wished to inform the Committee that the HS Committee wa s looking at a proposal 
from the EC, in WCO document NR0323E1 as well as a nu mber of other proposals, all of which were 
summarised in the WCO document NR0334E1. There were proposals to amend the nomenclature in 
respect of a number of products which the ITA Co mmittee was concerned with and it would be useful 
for the Committee to be aware that such activities were taking place in th at fora.  With regard to the 
semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment, which caused a lot of difficulties for many 
participants trying to classify these products, there were several proposals before the HS Committee to 
have new HS nomenclature in place for those typ es of products which would facilitate the future 
implementation of the ITA.  5.3 The delegate of Japan
 recalled that in the previous meeting of the Committee, Japan had 
reported an issue about a participant of the ITA that had been treating digital cameras as non-ITA 
products since January 2002.  Japan was in the process of bilateral consultations with this participant, 
requesting them to adjust their treatment.  At present there was no progress to report, but  Japan would inform the Committee if any progress was made.  
6.  New Participants  
6.1 The Chairman
 recalled that the schedule of the People 's Republic of China had been pending 
before the Committee for some time.  A new schedule, that of Egypt, had been submitted to the Committee for consideration at the current meeting. The schedule of the People's Republic of China had G/IT/M/35 
Page 8  
 
 been circulated to all participants on 6 February 2002 for consideration.  At the Committee’s meeting of  
15 February 2002, concern had been expressed by at l east one participant that some matters relating to 
implementation issues were proble matic and as a result the schedule had not been approved.  The 
situation remained the same at every meeting since that time.  However, he believed that some progress had been made and that the Committee was now in a position to take up the schedule of China for 
approval.    
 6.2 The delegate of the People's Republic of China
 stated that China was looking forward to 
becoming a member of the ITA. China had taken part  in the negotiations for ITA long before it joined 
the WTO.  Since then, tariff reductions had been carried out on more than 200 tariff lines according to 
its schedule. China strongly believed that the liber alisation of trade in products of information 
technology would greatly stimulate the growth of th e world economy.  However, there were 15 tariff 
lines of products for which it was difficult to distin guish whether they belonged to ITA products or 
ordinary machinery and electric products. In orde r to identify the imports of the 15 products for 
different use, the Ministry of Information Tec hnology and the Ministry of Finance had published  
interim rules to identify certain IT  products which had caused a delay to China's accession to the ITA.  
Since 1 January 2003, China had eliminated end u se certificates on the 15 ITA products and therefore 
fully complied with ITA provisions. Meanwhile, China had made clarifications on this issue to the 
participants concerned and had reached agreement with them, thereby clearing all the barriers for 
China's entry into ITA.   
 
6.3 The delegate of the United States  stated that, as one of the dele gations that had concerns about 
the particular issue of end-use certificates, they we re extraordinarily pleased at their elimination and 
they welcomed China to full membership in the ITA Committee. They were very pleased that they 
had been able to resolve the issue and looked forwar d to China's very active participation as a member 
of the Committee. 
 
6.4 The delegate of Canada  supported what the delegate of the United States had said regarding 
the elimination of the end use certificates, as this had brought the process to a conclusion. They were 
extremely pleased to be able to welcome the People' s Republic of China, a significant player in the 
trade of these products, into the ITA and looked fo rward to working with them in the Committee. 
 
6.5 The Committee approved  the schedule of China. 
 6.6 The Chairman
 welcomed the People's Republic of China as the 58th participant to the 
Committee.  He then turned to the schedule of Egypt .  The schedule had been circulated to all participants 
on 14 April for consideration. The Secretariat had pe rformed the electronic veri fication of the schedule 
which had shown that there were no discrepancies.  Th is information had also been circulated along with 
the schedule.  He believed that the Committee was now in a position to take up the schedule of Egypt for approval.    
 
6.7 The delegate of Egypt
 congratulated China on its accessi on to the ITA. She expressed her 
appreciation to all the participants as well as to the Secretariat for their valuable assistance and 
cooperation in helping draft Egypt's schedule. Acco rding to their schedule, Egypt was committed to 
gradually removing duties on information tec hnology products starting from 2003 and would 
complete all tariff reductions to zero by 2007. He r delegation's presence in the Committee reflected 
the level of attention that Egypt devoted to its ra pidly expanding information technology sector that in 
many ways was leading their emerging economy.  It was also further proof of Egypt's commitment to 
liberalise its IT market, thus providing an enabling environment for an important industry. It built on 
another significant, and in many ways closely related milestone, which was Egypt's schedule of commitments in basic telecommunications in accord ance with the Fourth Protocol to the GATS in 
summer 2002.  In this way, Egypt further consolidated its vision of the convergence of the communications and information technology sectors. When Egypt had decided to present its schedule  G/IT/M/35 
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 of commitments in both these fields, it had a clear  vision that it was embarking on the full utilisation 
of those technologies for the realisation of its deve lopment goals. It was a process that had been given 
special impetus when President Mubarak launche d the technological renaissance project in 
September 1999.  This sparked an accelerated implem entation of the vision through translating it into 
the national information and communication plan. T hose activities had encouraged major foreign and 
national companies to invest in the telecommunicat ions sector in Egypt and the new investments had 
resulted in a massive increase in acce ssibility in Egypt over the last th ree years. With the reduction of 
tariffs and more customer focused services, there wo uld be two million internet users by the middle of 
2003. Mobile subscribers had reached almost four  and a half million users. On the information 
technology industry side, Egypt had lately launched a personal computer  project aimed at enabling its 
ordinary citizens to own a computer in order to benefit from its pioneering idea of free internet 
services. This meant a lot to a developing country like Egypt with a populat ion of 70 million. This 
outlook encouraged Egypt to activ ate its regional efforts and Cairo would be hosting the Pan Arab 
Regional Conference in preparation for the Worl d Summit on the Information Society, thereby 
providing a greater opportunity to share its best practices in all aspects related to information and 
communications technology with its regional nei ghbours. It was this developmental view of 
information and communications technology that gove rned Egypt's decision to join the Information 
Technology Agreement of WTO. She called on Me mbers to approve the Egyptian request for 
participation in the ITA. 
 
6.8 The delegate of the United States  stated that they were very pleased with the outstanding offer 
put forward by Egypt in its proposal. Not only w as the United States government pleased with the 
development, but perhaps even more importantly, th e private sector was extraordinarily excited that 
the development had taken place. Therefore, they wi shed to be among the first to enthusiastically 
support Egypt. 
 
6.9 The delegate of the European Communities  stated that his delegation joined with the United 
States in expressing their delight with the submission from Egypt.  He noted that the Ambassador of Egypt had very eloquently given a good analysis a nd reasoning as to why it was important and fruitful 
for a country to belong to the ITA. This was not only an outstanding industry in its own right, it also had an enabling impact on all other industries. They fully supported the offer which was now on the table from Egypt. The European Communities also extended a very warm welcome to the People's 
Republic of China. 
 6.10 The Committee approved
 the schedule of Egypt.   
 6.11 The Chairman welcomed
 Egypt as the 59th participant to the Committee. 
 
6.12 The delegate of India  welcomed the delegations of China and Egypt to the ITA Committee 
and stated that he looked forward to working w ith them. He was sure th at the Committee would 
benefit from the participation of the two new members and he paid his complements to both 
delegations. 
 
7. Other Business 
7.1 The delegate of Japan  stated that, with regard to pr oduct coverage, Japan was proposing a 
sectoral liberalisation approach for 18 product sect ors in the NAMA Negotiating Group.  Included in 
these proposals, there were proposals related to the IT A.  Since the ITA had been agreed in 1996 great 
technological innovation had been made in IT prod ucts, but current ITA coverage did not include 
some of them.  Japan had made a list of  products  which had the possibility of being covered by the 
ITA and had submitted that list to the NAMA Nego tiating Group.  Enlarging ITA coverage would 
lead to an increase in economic welfare as it would stimulate new technology and innovations.  With G/IT/M/35 
Page 10  
 
 regard to the NAMA proposal concerning ITA, Japan  would continue its efforts in the Negotiating 
Group to reach an agreement among WTO Members.  7.2 The Chairman
 stated that the issue of the "Review of Product Coverage" continued to be a matter 
under consultation and he encouraged dele gations to continue their efforts. 
 
7.3 Furthermore, he proposed that the Committee hold its next meeting on 16 July 2003, subject to further confirmation. 
 
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