The General Council,Having
regard to Articles IV.1, IV.2, IV.5 and IX.1 of
the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization (WTO);
Considering
the importance which Members attach to
implementation-related issues and concerns as reflected
in paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Geneva Ministerial
Declaration, in the preparatory process for the third
Ministerial Conference and in numerous subsequent
discussions in the General Council;
Considering
that the Decision of the General Council of 3 May 2000
provides that the General Council in Special Sessions
shall address issues and concerns raised by Members in
connection with the implementation of some WTO Agreements
and Decisions;
Recalling
further that the Decision of 3 May 2000 provides that the
General Council shall assess the existing difficulties,
identify ways needed to resolve them, and take decisions
for appropriate action;
Taking
into account the work programme on implementation issues
agreed by the General Council at its first Special
Session on 22 June 2000 which provides that, in the light
of the progress made until then, the third Special
Session will take decisions for appropriate action where
possible;
Recalling
the mandate given to the Chairman of the Council for
Trade in Goods and the consultations held on the issue of
transition periods under the Agreement on Trade-Related
Investment Measures;
Taking
into consideration the requests made to the
Director-General to work with the relevant international
standard-setting organizations and relevant
intergovernmental organizations on the issue of the
participation of developing countries in their work;
Recalling
further that the following implementation-related issues
were referred to the relevant WTO bodies at the Special
Session held on 18 October 2000:
- -
in the area of Agriculture, the development of
internationally agreed disciplines to govern the
provision of export credits, export credit
guarantees or insurance programmes pursuant to
Article 10.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture,
taking into account the provisions of paragraph 4
of the Decision on Measures Concerning the
Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme
on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing
Developing Countries;
- in the area of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
measures, the concerns of developing countries
regarding the equivalence of such measures;
- in the area of Technical Barriers to Trade, the
problems faced by developing countries in both
international standards and conformity
assessment;
- in the area of Customs Valuation, the idea of
information exchange between customs
administrations on export values in doubtful
cases, the addition of the cost of services in
Article 8:1(b)(iv) and aspects of the residual
method of determining customs value under Article
7 of the Customs Valuation Agreement; and,
- in the area of Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the issue
of the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement
and the Convention on Biological Diversity and
the issue of the implementation of Article 66.2
of the Agreement on technology transfer.
Noting
the reports on the above issues from the Chairpersons of
the Council for Trade in Goods, the Council for
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,
and the Committees on Agriculture, Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade and
Customs Valuation, and from the Director-General;
Decides
as follows:
1.
Agreement on Agriculture back to top
- 1.1
Members shall ensure that their tariff rate quota
regimes (TRQs) are administered in a transparent,
equitable and non-discriminatory manner. In that
context, they shall ensure that the notifications
they provide to the Committee on Agriculture
contain all the relevant information including
details on guidelines and procedures on the
allotment of TRQs. Members administering TRQs
shall submit addenda to their notifications to
the Committee on Agriculture (Table MA:1) by the
time of the second regular meeting of the
Committee in 2001.
-
- 1.2
The Committee on Agriculture shall examine
possible means of improving the effectiveness of
the implementation of the Decision on Measures
Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the
Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net
Food-Importing Developing Countries and report to
the General Council at the second regular meeting
of the Council in 2001.
2.
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures back to top
In
accordance with the request to the Director-General to
work with the relevant international standard-setting
organizations on the issue of the participation of
developing countries in their work, these organizations
are urged to ensure the participation of Members at
different levels of development and from all geographic
regions, throughout all phases of standard development.
3.
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade back to top
In
accordance with the request to the Director-General to
work with the relevant international standard-setting
organizations on the issue of the participation of
developing countries in their work, these organizations
are urged to ensure the participation of Members at
different levels of development and from all geographic
regions, throughout all phases of standard development.
4.
Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 back to top
Noting
that the process of examination and approval, in the
Customs Valuation Committee, of individual requests from
Members for extension of the five-year delay period in
Article 20.1 is proceeding well, the General Council
encourages the Committee to continue this work.
5.
Agreement on Rules of Origin back to top
Members
undertake to expedite the remaining work on the
harmonization of non-preferential rules of origin, so as
to complete it by the time of the Fourth Ministerial
Conference, or by the end of 2001 at the latest. The
Chairman of the Committee on Rules of Origin shall report
regularly, on his own responsibility, to the General
Council on the progress being made. The first such report
would be submitted to the Council at its first regular
meeting in 2001, and subsequently at each regular meeting
until the completion of the work programme.
6.
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures back to top
- 6.1
Taking into account the unique situation of
Honduras as the only original Member of the WTO
with a GNP per capita of less than US$ 1000 that
was not included in Annex VII(b) to the Agreement
on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM
Agreement), Members call upon the
Director-General to take appropriate steps, in
accordance with WTO usual practice, to rectify
the omission of Honduras from the list of Annex
VII(b) countries.
-
- 6.2
The Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing
Measures (SCM Committee) shall examine as an
important part of its work all issues relating to
Articles 27.5 and 27.6 of the SCM Agreement,
including the possibility to establish export
competitiveness on the basis of a period longer
than two years.
-
- 6.3
The SCM Committee shall examine as an important
part of its work the issues of aggregate and
generalized rates of remission of import duties
and of the definition of “inputs consumed in
the production process”, taking into account
the particular needs of developing-country
Members.
7.
Further Work back to top
The
General Council's Decision of 3 May 2000 on
Implementation-Related Issues is reaffirmed. The General
Council shall address the outstanding
implementation-related issues and concerns, including
those set out in paragraphs 21 and 22 of the revised
Draft Ministerial Text dated 19 October 1999
(Job(99)/5868/Rev.1), as well as any other
implementation-related issues raised by Members, as
envisaged in the Decision of 3 May and the work programme
agreed on 22 June 2000, with a view to completing the
process no later than the Fourth Session of the
Ministerial Conference.
|
