RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/C/W/266
31 May 2001
(01-2715)
Council for Trade in Goods
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR JOINT WTO/UNCTAD STUDY ON TRIMS
Communication from the Chairman of the Council for Trade in Goods
Members will recall that on 14 May 2001 the draft terms of reference for a joint
WTO/UNCTAD study on TRIMs were circulated for comments.  In accordance with the agreed
manner of proceeding, as no comments were received by the specified deadline, the terms of referenceare deemed approved by the Council for Trade in G oods, on the understanding that the conduct of the
study will take place in the context of the review called for in Article 9 of the TRIMs Agreement and
is not linked to work underway in the Council or any other WTO body on TRIMs transition periods.
The terms of reference are as follows:"To assist WTO Members to carry out a review called for in Article 9 of the TRIMs
Agreement, the WTO and UNCTAD secretariats are requested to prepare a joint study for the WTO
Council for Trade in Goods.  The study should prov ide a factual and objective examination of the use
that governments have made of trade-related investment measures and other performancerequirements as policy tools for industrial development, their effects on international trade and
investment flows and on economic growth and deve lopment, and the treatment of them in other
international agreements and instruments.  The study should be based on a thorough review of the
available literature, including the results of analysis carried out on this subject by other
intergovernmental organizations."
__________