. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/REG78/M/2
21 January 2003
(03-0310)
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements
Thirty-Third Session
EXAMINATION OF THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN POLAND AND THE
FAROE ISLANDS (GOVERNMENT OF DENMARK)
Note on the Meeting of 12 November 2002
Chairman:  Dr. V. Notis (Greece)
1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/1955.
2. Under Agenda Item B.VII of its Thirty-Third Session, the Committee on Regional Trade
Agreements (CRTA) took up the examination of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Poland
and the Faroe Islands.
3. The Chairman said that this was the second round of examination of the Agreement.  The
proceedings of the first round, which had taken place at the Committee's Twenty-Ninth Session, could
be found in document WT/REG78/M/1. Since then, th e Parties had provided replies to questions put
by delegations, which had been circulated in  document WT/REG78/4 a nd WT/REG78/4/Corr.1 in
July 2002.  The Chairman indicated that he would use the Standard Format (documentsWT/REG78/3, WT/REG78/3/A dd.1, and WT/REG78/3/Add.1/Corr.1) to  guide the debate and invited
delegations wishing to make comments or ask questions on specific matters to identify the relevant
section of the Standard Format for easier reference.
4. The representative of Australia thanked the Parties for providing written answers to the
questions her delegation had posed during the first round of examination.  Her delegation was
currently examining those responses and the further details supplied, but she had no further comments
on those issues at that stage.
5. Referring to Section I:4 "Trade Data" of document WT/REG78/4, the representative of Japan
asked the Parties whether they could provide more specific figures as to the meaning of the wording
"main part" of the trade between the Parties being subject to duty free treatment.  In particular, he
welcomed an indication of the share of tariff-free goods  and the share of goods subject to tariff quotas in
relation to the overall trade value between the Partie s, and information on the number of tariff lines for
which tariffs had been eliminated and those on whic h tariff quotas had been imposed in relation to the
overall number of tariff lines.  The representative of Denmark asked that the question be provided in
writing.
6. The Chairman proposed that the Committee considered the factual examination as
completed.  Once replies to the questions posed had been circulated, any request for additional
information could be dealt with without having to hold an additional round of examination.  The
Secretariat could then begin drafting the examination report.
7. The representative of the United States indicated her delegation was still considering the data
provided and was interested in seeing the replies to the representative of Japan's questions as that could
affect the comments it might have.  She was of the opinion that certain issues, such as the coverage ofWT/REG78/M/2
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agriculture were still pending, and thus that the factual examination should remain open until Members
had time to consider the questions and replies docum ent to be distributed in  the near future.  The
Chairman acknowledged the concerns raised by the Un ited States representative, but reiterated that the
factual examination of the Agreement could be consid ered as concluded and the Secretariat could begin
drafting the examination report.  He added that should  there be a need to re-open the examination of the
Agreement at a future meeting, nothing prevented the Committee from doing so.
8. The Committee took note of the comments made.
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