RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/RO/W/3
7June1995
ORGANIZATION(95-1497)
Committee onRules ofOrigin
DEFINITION OFTHE TERM "COUNTRY": REQUEST FROM THE
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ONRULES OFORIGIN
Note bytheSecretariat
Thefollowing request fromtheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin hasbeenforwarded
byitsChairman totheChairman oftheCommittee onRules ofOrigin. Thematter willbeonthe
agenda ofthemeeting oftheCommittee onRules ofOrigin tobeheldon27June1995.
_________________
Brussels, 5April 1995
Dear Sir,
TheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin helditsfirstmeeting inBrussels from 6-
10February 1995. Theconsideration ofdocument 39.166*onthedefinitions proposed bythe
Secretariat concerning wholly obtained goods, agenda itemVI,provided anopportunity for
contrasting various views ofparticipants withregard tothedraftdefinition oftheterm"country"
inparticular.
These discussions, aswellasthespeeches delivered byMr.J.W. Shaver, Secretary
General oftheWorld Customs Organization, andMr.P.Sutherland, Director-General ofthe
World Trade Organization, attheopening ofthemeeting, provided areminder thattheprovisions
oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin attribute precise prerogatives, primarily ofatechnical
nature, totheTechnical Committee.
Inthisconnection, andinaccordance withtheprovisions ofArticle 4,paragraph 2,ofthe
Agreement onRules ofOrigin, theTechnical Committee decided torequest theCommittee on
Rules ofOrigin toadvise itwhether thedefinition of"country", akeyconcept intheareaofrules
oforigin, isinfactatechnical matter orwhether itfallswithin thesphere ofcompetence ofthe
Committee onRules ofOrigin anditshigher bodies.
Ishould, therefore, begrateful ifyouwould kindly referthisquestion totheCommittee
onRules ofOrigin forconsideration andletmeknow itsopinion.
./.
_________________
*Copies (inEnglish andinFrench) areavailable intheWTO Secretariat, Centre William
Rappard, office 1073.G/RO/W/3
Page2
Foryourinformation, Ienclose anextract from thereport ofthefirstmeeting ofthe
Technical Committee summarizing thediscussion onthismatter*.
Yours faithfully,
(signed) Michel Danet
Chairman, Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin
TheChairman
Committee onRules ofOrigin
World Trade Organization
_________________
*Copies (inEnglish andinFrench) areavailable intheWTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard,
office 1073.