General Council – 15 – 16 May 2003 – Implementation Issues Referred to WTO

(03-2388)
Original:English
Implementation Issues referred to WTO bodies under the Doha Ministerial Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns
Communication from India
The following communication, dated 22 April, has been received by the Chairman of the General Council from the Permanent Mission of India with the request that this matter be inscribed on the Agenda of the General Council meeting to be held on 15-16 May.

• As part of the decision of 14 November 2001 on “Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns”, contained in document WT/MIN(01)/17 of 20 November 2001, some implementation issues were referred to WTO bodies for further work with a request to report to the General Council by a specified date. Issues so referred are the following:
• GATT 1994: Paragraph 1.2 of the Decision on Article XIII:2(d), referred to the Market Access Committee;
• Agreement on Textiles and Clothing: Paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5, referred to the CTG;
• Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994: Paragraph 7.4 on Article 18.6 of the Agreement, referred to the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices;
• Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994: Paragraph 8.3, referred to the Committee on Customs Valuation;
• Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures: Paragraph 10.3, referred to the SCM Committee; and
• Cross-cutting issues: Paragraphs 12.1(i) and (ii) on S&D, referred to the CTD
  In addition, the WTO bodies were requested to carry out further work on the following issues:
• SPS Agreement: Paragraph 3.3 regarding equivalence, referred to the SPS Committee;
• Agreement on the implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994: Paragraph 7.2 regarding Article 15 of the Agreement and paragraph 7.3 on Article 5.8 of the Agreement, referred to the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices;
• Agreement on Rules of Origin: Paragraph 9.1, referred to the Committee on Rules of Origin;
• Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures: Paragraph 10.1, referred to the SCM Committee; and
• TRIPS Agreement: Paragraph 11.2 dealing with Article 66.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, referred to the TRIPS Council
• Further, the Director-General was requested to continue his cooperative efforts with international standard-setting organizations on SPS and TBT to facilitate according priority to the participation of LDCs.

As you are aware, many developing countries attach very high importance to an early resolution of the above issues, It will be useful to have a review of the progress on the implementation issues referred to the WTO bodies, since the time-frame given to the WTO bodies has, in many cases, expired. Accordingly, it is requested that this issue be inscribed on the agenda for the General Council meeting to be held in mid-May 2003