WORLD TRADE WT/L/247
26November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5202)
REPORT (1997) OFTHE COMMITTEE ON
TRADE INCIVIL AIRCRAFT
1. Thisreport issubmitted under Article 8.2oftheAgreement onTrade inCivil Aircraft
(hereinafter the"Agreement") andArticle IV.8oftheMarrakesh Agreement Establishing theWorld
Trade Organization. Itsetsouttheactivities oftheCommittee since November 1996.
2. On24November 1997 there were 23Signatories totheAgreement: Bulgaria, Canada, the
European Communities, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
theNetherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, theUnited Kingdom, Egypt, Japan, Macau, Norway,
Romania, Switzerland andtheUnited States. Greece hassigned theAgreement subject toratification.
Theothercountries withobserver status intheCommittee are:Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil,
Cameroon, theCzech Republic, Finland, Gabon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malta, Mauritius,
Nigeria, Poland, Singapore, theSlovak Republic, SriLanka, Trinidad andTobago, Tunisia andTurkey.
Inaddition, China, theRussian Federation andChinese Taipei haveobserver status intheCommittee.
TheIMFandUNCTAD arealsoobservers.
3. TheCommittee onTrade inCivil Aircraft (hereafter the"Committee") heldmeetings inthe
period under review on16Juneand24November 1997.
4. Atthemeeting of16June1997 (TCA/M/5), theChairman recalled thatsignificant legal
uncertainty surrounded therelationship between theAgreement andother WTO Agreements asaresult
ofthecontinuing failure toadapt theAgreement totheWTO structure. TheChairman indicated that
hewould explore allavailable options toresolve thematter, including suspension ortermination of
theAgreement. TheCommittee alsoelected MsEvaRygh (Norway) asVice-Chairperson, andone
Signatory raised issues concerning Articles 3("Technical Barriers toTrade") and4("Government-
Directed Procurement, Mandatory Sub-Contracts andInducements") oftheAgreement under "Other
Business".
5. Atthemeeting of24November 1997, theChairman reported thatininformal consultations
heldinOctober 1997, amajority ofSignatories consulted expressed theiropposition tosuspension
ortermination oftheAgreement. TheCommittee adopted the1997 Annual Report totheGeneral
Council.
6. TheSub-Committee oftheCommittee onTrade inCivilAircraft didnotmeetduring theperiod
under review.