No. _____________
WORLD TRADE G/SECRET/HS96/30
16 October 1996
ORGANIZATION
Original: Spanish
1996 CHANGES IN THE HARMONIZED SYSTEM
Submission of Documentation
Schedule LXIV - Argentina
The following communication, dated 30 September 1996,has b een received from thePermanent
Mission of Argentina.
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I have the pleasure to transmit herewith the following docum ents in order to introduce the changes
in the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System i n force since 1 January 1996 (HS 1996),
in accordance with the Procedures for Negotiations under Ar ticle XXVIII (BISD 27S/26), the GATT
Council Decision of 8 October 1991 establishing the Procedu res to implement changes in the Harmonized
System (BISD 39S/300) and the General Council Decisions of 1 3 December 1995 (WT/L/124) and
18 July 1996 (WT/L/173).
Annex 1 : Present Schedule LXIV
The present Schedule of the Argentine Republic is contained in two legal instruments:
(a) Schedule LXIV of the Argentine Republic, annexed to the G eneva Protocol (1995)
annexed to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
(b) Schedule LXIV of the Argentine Republic, annexed to the M arrakesh Protocol annexed
to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Volume 15 ).
Annex 2 : Proposed Schedule LXIV
The proposed Schedule LXIV of the Argentine Republic shows t he existing bindings expressed
in the MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature, which incorporates th e HS 1996 changes.
For products where the bound tariff is lower than the MERCOSU R Common External Tariffs
(CET), it is to be understood that the proposed tariff ("boun d rate of duty") is the CET. It should
be stressed that in these cases the final level that will be bo und may be different, as a consequence
of the negotiations under Article XXIV:6 and the Enabling Cl ause.
./.G/SECRET/HS96/30
Page 2
Annex 3 : Concordance table between the present Schedule and the pro posed Schedule
The concordance table establishes the correlation between the NCE (Foreign Trade Nomenclature)
and NCM (MERCOSUR Common Nomenclature).
Annex 4 : Concordance table between the proposed Schedule and the pr esent Schedule
The concordance table establishes the correlation between the MERCOSUR Common
Nomenclature (NCM) and the NCE Nomenclature (Foreign Trade Nomenclature).
Annex 5 : Modifications of concessions
This includes all headings for which the MERCOSUR Common Ext ernal Tariff (CET) is higher
than the final bound tariffs, as well as average imports for 1 992-94 broken down by country.
It is pointed out that the introduction of the 1996 HS did not i ntroduce any additional modification
of concessions. All these modifications arose as a result of the entry into force of the CET on
1 January 1995.
In the case of Agricultural products, the CET will exceed the bound tariff only as from
1 January 2000.
It should be noted that the information in Annex 5 is also cont ained in document
WT/COMTD/1/Add.5 of 20 September 1995, which includes the c hanges proposed in the bound tariffs
for the four MERCOSUR countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paragu ay and Uruguay).
Should any Member consider it necessary, the Argentine Repu blic, together with the other
MERCOSUR Members, is ready to conduct consultations or nego tiations under the relevant provisions
of Article XXIV:6 and the Enabling Clause to examine the chan ges introduced by the CET and the
HS 1996 and the maintenance of the general level of concessio ns.
Any Member which considers that it has an interest in a conces sion should transmit a
communication in writing to that effect, within a period of 9 0 days, to the Permanent Mission of the
Argentine Republic in Geneva, with a copy to the WTO Secretar iat. In order to facilitate negotiations
or consultations, the communication should indicate, wher e possible, the products and tariff heading
numbers concerned.
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If no objection is notified to the Secretariat within 90 days from the date of this document,
the changes to Schedule LXIV - Argentina will be deemed to be a pproved and will be formally certified.
Copies of the documents (in Spanish only) are available for c ollection from the Market Access
Division (Ms. Hudry, office No. 3142).