RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/MA/M/2
12July1995
ORGANIZATION(95-1953)
Committee onMarket Access
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING OF26JUNE 1995
Chairman: Mr.Jean Saint-Jacques (Canada)
Agenda oftheMeeting Page
1. Rules ofProcedure 1
2. Introduction ofHS96 changes andestablishment ofloose-leaf schedules 2
3. Factual information onwaivers andreport totheCouncil forTrade 2
inGoods
4. Notifications related tonon-tariff measures andquantitative restrictions 3
5. Integrated DataBase 3
6. Other business 3
-Tariff reductions byCanada
Introduction
Beforeproceedingtotheadoptionoftheagenda,theChairmanstatedthatasconcernedobservers,
inaddition tothecountries which were acceding totheWTO, asagreed atthelastmeeting ofthe
Committee, thesame international organizations hadbeeninvited tothismeeting. Hewelcomed the
representatives present oftheFAO, IMF, UNCTAD, WCO andtheWorld Bank. Hesuggested that,
untilthecriteria andconditions forobserver status wereagreed, thesesameinternational organizations
would beinvited toattend thenextmeeting oftheCommittee inthecapacity ofobservers.
TheCommittee soagreed.
Theabove agenda wasadopted withtheaddition, under "other business", ofanissue related
totariff reduction measures taken bytheGovernment ofCanada.
1. Rules ofProcedure
1.1 TheChairman informed theCommittee that,asagreed atthemeeting of25April 1995, the
Secretariat waspreparing adocument containing Draft Rules ofProcedures forthisCommittee, based
ontheRules ofProcedures fortheGeneral Council, which would becirculated tothemembers of
theCommittee fortheirinformation andcomments prior tothenextmeeting. Given thefactthatthe
Rules ofProcedures forthesectoral Councils hadnotyetbeenadopted bytheGeneral Council, heG/MA/M/2
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feltitpreferable toholdthisissue untilsuchatimewhen theRules ofProcedure oftheCouncil for
Trade inGoods willhavebeenapproved. Heproposed that,inthemeantime, theCommittee would
conduct itsbusiness onthebasis ofcommon-sense andGATT practice.
TheCommittee agreed withthisapproach.
2. Introduction ofHS96 changes andestablishment ofloose-leaf schedules
2.1 TheChairman regretted tonotethat, regarding thesubmission ofthedocumentation in
connection withtheHS96 changes thatwould come intoforce on1January 1996, verylittleprogress
hadbeenmadeandthatonlyonemember,HongKong,hadsubmitteditsdocumentationtotheSecretariat
forcirculation. Heurged delegations toproceed tothesubmission ofthenecessary documentation
regarding theHS96 changes assoonaspossible. Healsoreported totheCommittee thathehadcarried
outaseries ofinformal consultations withrespect tothepreparation ofconsolidated schedules inthe
loose-leaf format andthat,although those consultations proved veryuseful, theygaverisetomany
technical issues thatwould needtobeaddressed tobytheCommittee. Heintended topursue those
informal consultations within thenextfewweeks withthehopetosolve mostofthepending problems
andtosubmit concrete proposals totheCommittee assoonaspossible.
2.2 Therepresentative ofJapan pointed outthathisdelegation hadintended tosubmit therequired
documentation within afewdays'timeandheexpected aconfirmation thatitcould proceed todoso
regardless oftheoutcome oftheconsultations.
2.3 TheChairmanconfirmedthatalthoughitwouldhavebeenpreferabletocombinethepreparation
ofthedocumentationrelatedtotheHSchangesandthesubmissionofconsolidatedschedulesinloose-leaf
format, thiswasnotpossible because ofthenumber ofissues thatwereoutstanding. Itbecame now
veryurgent toproceed withtheintroduction oftheHS96 changes intheschedules andsubmit the
necessary documentation.
2.4 Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatitwould beuseful iftheSecretariat could
prepare anoteidentifying thestatus ofloose-leaf schedules thathadbeensubmitted aftertheTokyo
Round andaftertheirtransposition intotheHarmonized System. TheChairman confirmed thatsuch
alistwasinpreparation.
3. Factual information onwaivers andreport totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
3.1 TheChairman ,referring todocument G/MA/SPEC/1 dated 22June1995containing thereport
ontheactivities oftheCommittee, stated thatthereport would befinalized inlightofthediscussion
atthismeeting andsubmitted totheCouncil forTrade inGoods scheduled for3July1995. Thereport
included alsoanAnnex reproducing thefactual information submitted bythedelegations concerned
inrelation totheextension oftheirwaivers. From thedocument, itcould beseenthatoutofthe14
countries which hadbeenunder waivers expiring on30June1995, onlyeleven hadrequested an
extension. Asconcerns theother three countries, Argentina hadsubmitted anewHSschedule for
certification; theHSdocumentation ofElSalvador hadbeencirculated anddidnot,according to
ElSalvador, contain anychange ofratenorofINRstatus; norequest forextension hadbeenreceived
from Malawi.
3.2 Therepresentative oftheUnited States indicated thatbecause hereceived thereport under
consideration verylate,there wasnotenough timeforhimtoforward ittohisauthorities andreceive
theirreactions. Hewastherefore obliged toreserve theposition ofhisdelegation concerning the
adoption ofthereport. Hefurther stated hewould appreciate iftherelevant documents could be
circulated tendaysinadvance ofthemeetings.G/MA/M/2
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3.3 TheChairman explained thatthepreparation ofthedocument hadbeendelayed because it
hadbeenpossible onlyinrecent daystoclarify thesituation asconcerns theextension ofwaivers with
thecountries concerned. Heproceeded totheexamination ofthereport paragraph byparagraph. The
Committee approved thereport, subject tothereservation made bytheUnited States. Itwasagreed
thatthereport would befinalized inthelightofthediscussion atthismeeting, subsequently circulated
asdocument G/MA/1 andsubmitted forconsideration totheCouncil forTrade inGoods atitsmeeting
of3July1995.
4. Notifications related tonon-tariff measures andquantitative restrictions
4.1 TheChairman informed theCommittee thatonthebasis ofdocument G/MA/W/1 prepared
bytheSecretariat, hehadcarried outaseries ofinformal consultations. Itappeared thatfurther
consultations would benecessary before hecould report anyprogress totheCommittee.
5. Integrated Data Base
5.1 TheChairman reported thatsince thelastmeeting oftheCommittee, theSecretariat hadbeen
working onadocument which would outline thepresent situation andmake proposals regarding the
future oftheIDB. Thisdocument would becirculated todelegations shortly. Inaddition, theDivision
ofStatistics andInformation Systems hadcarried outaveryuseful series ofdemonstrations onthe
IDBCD-ROM during theweek of12to16June1995, towhich alldelegations hadbeeninvited. The
Chairman would takeupthismatter again atthenextmeeting oftheCommittee.
5.2 Therepresentative oftheWorld Bank stated thattheBank hadbeenpleased tocooperate with
theWTO onthedevelopment ofasoftware fortheIDBandwassatisfied about theoutcome ofthis
exercise. Hereiterated thestrong interest oftheBank intheexistence ofcomprehensive trade and
trade policy dataasenvisaged bytheIDBsince suchdatawere essential forbothitsresearch and
operational work. While recognizing theheavy workload thatmanaging andmaintaining theIDB
represented, theBankurged theWTO topress onwiththecompletion ofthedatabase. Suchcompletion
should, according totheBank, entail recent tradeandtariffdataandinformation onpreferential tariffs
atatarifflinelevelincluding dataonceilings towhich certain preferences might besubject. Moreover,
theBank urged forabroader country coverage, theinclusion asfaraspossible ofnon-tariff barrier
information, andfurther work toensure theconsistent treatment ofagriculture.
6. Other business
-Tariff reduction measures taken byCanada
6.1 Therepresentative ofCanada informed theCommittee thatCanada hadannounced thatitwould
undertake acomprehensive review ofitstariffsystem including astudy onmanufacturing inputs. The
study having beencompleted, theCanadian government announced areduction oftheMFN applied
ratesonabout 1,500 tariff lineswhich would takeeffect immediately. Details ofthese changes would
benotified totheSecretariat inaccordance withexisting procedures within thenextfewweeks.