RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/RO/M/2
1August 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-2278)
Committee onRules ofOrigin
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING ON27JUNE 1995
Chairman: Mr.C.Osakwe (Nigeria)
1. TheCommittee onRules ofOrigin meton27June1995.
2. Thefollowing agenda wasadopted:
Page
A. Election ofVice-Chairperson 1
B. Rules ofprocedure 1
C. UseofSpanish asaworking language inthe 2
Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin
D. Definition of"country": request from theTechnical Committee 2
E. Notifications under paragraph 1ofArticle 5and 3
paragraph 4ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin
F. Other business 4
(i) Quarterly reports oftheTechnical Committee 4
(ii) Dateofnextmeeting 4
_________________
A. Election ofVice-Chairperson
3. TheCommittee elected Mrs. Ivanka (Hungary) asitsVice-Chairperson.
B. Rules ofprocedure
4. TheChairmannotedthattheSecretariathadcirculateddraftrulesofprocedurefortheCommittee
onRules ofOrigin indocument G/RO/W/2. Therulesofprocedure oftheCouncil forTrade inGoods,
however, hadnotyetbeen adopted bytheGeneral Council, pending clarification ofRule 33of
Chapter VII(Decision-Making). Hebelieved thatwhile thisshould nothaveanyimplications forthe
rules ofprocedure oftheCommittee onRules ofOrigin, itwasnotpossible forthisCommittee toG/RO/M/2
Page2
adopt itsrules ofprocedure before thematter hadbeenresolved. He,therefore, proposed thatthe
Committee leavethismatter untilitsnextmeeting. Healsostated thatithadbeendrawn totheattention
oftheSecretariat thatthefootnote tobeadded toRules 2and3,should alsobeadded toRule4,and
thattheSecretariat would issue acorrigendum tothiseffect.1These footnotes referred tothetime
period required forcirculation ofdocuments before ameeting.
5. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement made andagreed totheChairman 'sproposal.
C. UseofSpanish asaworking language intheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin
6. TheChairman stated thatasagreed atthelastmeeting oftheCommittee, hehadforwarded
theCommittee 'srequest totheWorld Customs Organization (WCO) toensure thatworkintheTechnical
Committee onRules ofOrigin becarried outinEnglish, French andSpanish. Acopy ofhisletter
hadbeencirculated indocument G/RO/W/1 of21April 1995.
7: Theobserver fromtheWCO reported thattheWCO Council hadmettheprevious week and
accepted theprinciple offunding theuseofthethreeWTO working languages intheWCO Technical
Committee onRules ofOrigin. Thisdecision wasbeing implemented immediately andallthree
languages would beusedinthesecond meeting oftheTechnical Committee tobeheldinSeptember.
8. TheChairman expressed appreciation fortheflexibility andcooperativeness shown bytheWCO
andlooked forward toafruitful collaboration between thetwoCommittees.
9. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
D. Definition of"country": request from theTechnical Committee
10. TheChairman stated thatthisitemhadbeenplaced ontheagenda attherequest oftheWCO
Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin. Theterm"country" wasakeyconcept inthedetermination
oforigin, andtheTechnical Committee, atitsfirstmeeting, hadexamined various elements ofa
definition proposed bytheWCO Secretariat. Faced withthecomplexity anddiversity oftheissues
involved, theTechnical Committee haddecided toseektheopinion oftheCommittee astowhether
thisdefinition should beelaborated bytheCommittee orbytheTechnical Committee. Therequest
from theTechnical Committee hadbeencirculated indocument G/RO/W/3. Toassist delegations
informulating anopinion onthisquestion, theSecretariat hadlisted, inanon-paper (No.1847, dated
7/6/1995), various elements thatmight betaken intoconsideration when thedefinition waselaborated.
Given theimportance ofthequestion, hehadconsulted withanumber ofdelegations inadvance of
thismeeting, andhaddetected, fromthese consultations, broad agreement thattheresponsibility for
elaborating adefinition oftheterm"country" forthepurposes oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin
should restwiththisCommittee. Atthesametime, itappeared tobegenerally recognised thatassistance
bytheWCO onthemore technical aspects ofthedefinition would berequired. Healsodetected broad
agreement thatthedefinition oftheterm"country" would amount toaninterpretation oftheAgreement
onRules ofOrigin andwould, assuch, havetobeadopted bytheGeneral Council, inconformity with
paragraph 2ofArticle 9oftheWTO Agreement.
11. Theobserver fromtheWCO stated thattheTechnical Committee hadaddressed thequestion
ofcompetence fordefining "country" totheCommittee because, inattempting toelaborate adefinition,
ithadcome upagainst some questions thatwere notofatechnical nature. Thedefinition hadtwo
aspects, juridical andterritorial. Forthejuridical aspect, theTechnical Committee hadcontemplated
1Subsequently issued asG/RO/W/2/Corr.1G/RO/M/2
Page3
using concepts found intheexplanatory notes andinArticle XII:1 oftheWTO Agreement. However,
questions ofapolitical nature hadarisen, namely withrespect totheconcepts of"sovereignty" and
tothetreatment ofcustoms unions. Questions hadalsoarisen withregard tothetechnical orterritorial
aspects ofthedefinition, forexample inrelation tothetreatment offreeports, freetrade zones, air
space, orexclusive economic zones. Hestated thatthebestsituation fortheTechnical Committee
would betobeabletocontinue itswork onthebasis ofaclear opinion from theCommittee onthe
definition of"country"; however, hebelieved that,ifsorequested, theTechnical Committee could
continue itswork ontheharmonization ofrules oforigin pending theelaboration ofthedefinition of
"country" ontheunderstanding thatthiswould, inthemeantime, bedoneonanadreferendum basis.
Inanycase,hethought thatthedefinition might undergo anevolution asprogress intheharmonization
work might shednewlightonthequestion.
12. TheChairman made following theproposal: (1)thattheCommittee setupaDrafting Group
toelaborate adefinition oftheterm"country" forthesolepurpose oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin,
under hischairmanship; (2)thattheDrafting Group beopentoallinterested delegations; however,
given thatthisdrafting exercise needed tobedonequickly andefficiently, itwasimportant thatitbe
carried outinasmall group; inthisregard, heurged thatdelegations, tothegreatest extent possible,
co-ordinate theirpositions insmaller groups inorder tolimitthenumber ofparticipants intheDrafting
Group; (3)thatdelegations interested inparticipating intheDrafting Group inform theSecretariat after
thismeeting oftheCommittee; (4)thattheDrafting Group takeintoaccount thework already done
inthisareabytheWCO Technical Committee, andthattheWCO Secretariat beinvited toparticipate
intheDrafting Group toassist withthemore technical aspects ofthedefinition andtoavoid time-
consuming exchanges between Geneva andBrussels; theDrafting Group would alsohavebefore it
thenon-paper prepared bytheWTO Secretariat; (5)thattheDrafting Group conclude itswork as
soonaspossible.
13. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made andagreed totheChairman 'sproposal.
14. TheChairmanproposedthattheDraftingGroupsettoworkimmediatelyandattempttoconclude
itswork bytheendofJuly, ontheunderstanding that,inthemeantime, work intheWCO would
continue onanadreferendum basis.
15. SomeMembers,whilesupportingtheChairman'sproposal,cautionedthatitmightnotbepossible
toconclude work onthedefinition of"country" bytheendofJuly. OneMember suggested that,in
thatevent, theTechnical Committee might findithelpful toreceive interim advices iftheCommittee
proceeded withthequestions onanitem-by-item basis.
16. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made, agreed totheChairman 'sproposal, and
requested theChairman totransmit itsdecision totheWCO 'sTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin1.
E. Notifications under paragraph 1ofArticle 5andparagraph 4ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement
onRules ofOrigin
17. TheChairman recalled thattheSecretariat hadcirculated threedocuments informing delegations
ofthenotificationsreceived(G/RO/N/1andAdd.1,andG/RO/N/2).Sincethen,twofurthernotifications
hadbeenreceived: onebySouth Africa related tonon-preferential rulesoforigin, theother byCuba
related tobothpreferential andnon-preferential rules oforigin. Hefurther recalled that,atitslast
meeting, theCommittee hadnoted thatMembers weretomake notifications relating tonon-preferential
rules oforigin within 90daysoftheentry intoforce oftheWTO Agreement forthemselves andto
1TheChairman 'sletter wassubsequently reproduced indocument G/RO/W/5G/RO/M/2
Page4
make notifications relating topreferential rulesoforigin promptly. Only alimited number ofWTO
Members hadcomplied withthenotification requirements. Heurged Members which didnotapply
rules oforigin, non-preferential orpreferential, toinform theSecretariat sothatacomplete picture
could bebuiltup.Healsoproposed thattheCommittee request theSecretariat toaddress reminders
tothose delegations which hadnotyetcomplied withthenotification obligations intheareaofrules
oforigin.
18. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement made andagreed totheChairman 'sproposal.
F. Other business
(i) Quarterly reports oftheTechnical Committee
19. Therepresentative ofHong Kong recalled that,atthefirstmeeting oftheCommittee, his
delegationhadexpressedconcernabouttheTechnicalCommittee'sarrangementsforsubmittingquarterly
reports totheCommittee andthattheCommittee hadagreed thattherequest totheTechnical Committee
tolaunch theharmonization work programme would emphasize theneedforthework oftheTechnical
Committee toberesult-oriented (G/R/M/1, paragraphs 35and36).Hethenraised therelated question
ofhowthisCommittee would handle factual progress reports from theChairman oftheTechnical
Committee should suchreports notcontain substantive results and/or nothavebeenformally endorsed
bytheTechnical Committee. Thequestion waswhether theCommittee could fulfil itsobligations
under Article 9:3(a) oftheAgreement insuchcircumstances. Heappreciated thattheharmonization
work program wasanimportant andcomplex exercise, andurged thatthethree-year period allotted
toitbeputtothebestpossible use.
20. Theobserver fromtheWCO stated thatboththeTechnical Committee andtheWCO Secretariat
shared theconcern thattheTechnical Committee 'sapproach totheharmonization work programme
beresult-oriented. Indeed, thedecision toholdmeetings oftwoweeks duration, twice ayear,stemmed
fromjustsuchaconcern. However, hedidnotexclude thepossibility thattheTechnical Committee
re-examine these proposed arrangements. Ontheother hand, herecalled thatParagraph 8ofAnnex I
oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin provided that"theTechnical Committee shallmeetasnecessary,
butnotlessthanonceayear".
21. TheChairman underscored theneedforthequarterly reports oftheTechnical Committee to
contain substantive results andtocarrytheendorsement oftheTechnical Committee .Healsoconfirmed
thattheconcernswouldbeconveyedtotheTechnicalCommitteeintheletterlaunchingtheharmonization
work programme, asagreed atthelastmeeting ofthisCommittee.
22. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made.
(ii) Dateofnextmeeting
23. TheChairmanrecalledthattheCommittee,atitslastmeeting,hadrequestedhimtosend,around
mid-July, itsrequest totheTechnical Committee inBrussels tostartwork ontheharmonization work
programme (G/RO/M/1, paragraphs 35and36). Heproposed todosoonJuly20,1995. Acopy
ofthatletter would becirculated totheMembers1.Inconformity withthethree-month period allowed
forthiswork, thereport ofthefirstphase oftheharmonization work programme would needtobe
concluded inOctober. Itwould, therefore, benecessary forthisCommittee tomeetinNovember to
consider theresults. However, depending ontheprogress made intheDrafting Group onthedefinition
1Tobeissued asdocument G/RO/W/4.G/RO/M/2
Page5
oftheterm"country", theCommittee might needtoreconvene before theendofJulytoconsider the
results oftheDrafting Group 'swork. Heproposed thattheCommittee authorize himtosetthedate
ofthenextmeeting, inthelightofdevelopments andinconsultation withdelegations.
24. TheCommittee agreed totheChairman 'sproposals.