Council for Trade in Services (Special Session)

6, 9-10 October

5, 12 December

Agenda items of interest may include:

● assessment of trade in services;

● proposals under Article XIX of the GATS;

● review of progress made in the requests and offers phase.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as TN/S/M/8.

Negotiating Group on Rules

27-29 October

26-27 November

11,15-17 December

The agenda should include continued discussions over the implementation of new practices regarding:

● anti-dumping, subsidies and countervailing measures, including fisheries;

● subsidies: a proposal by India for S&D treatment (TN/RL/W/8) is likely to receive continued attention;

● regional trade agreements (dedicated session in December): a proposal by India (TN/RL/W/114) highlights issues of particular concern to developing countries under this topic.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as TN/RL/M/11.

See also the Chairman’s report to the last session of the TNC (TN/RL/5).

Committee on Agriculture (Special Session)

6-9 October and

17-19, 21 November

Agenda items of interest may include:

● the three modalities proposals on the table: the revised Chairman’s draft (TN/AG/W/1/Rev.1), the US-EU draft, and the G-21 draft (WT/MIN(03)/6);

● a ministerial level communiqué circulated at Cancun (WT/MIN(03)/14) by 22 developing countries [Note 3] in support of Strategic Products (SPs) and a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing countries;

● the submission by four LDCs [Note 4] on cotton subsidies (TN/AG/GEN/4) and a follow-up proposal circulated at Cancun (WT/MIN(03)/W/2);

Analysis of the Chairman’s drafts is available as Background Note on the Doha Work Programme Negotiations on Agriculture (February 2003) and An update of this note is also available on-line on the AITIC website.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as TN/AG/R/10.

Negotiating Group on Market Access

23-24 October
and
8, 9-10 December

Agenda items of interest may include:

● the Chairman’s revised draft text on modalities (TN/MA/W/35/Rev.1);

● a proposal for tariff reductions by Canada, the EC and the US (JOB(03)/163);

● a submission by developing countries highlighting negative impact that tariff reductions could have on government revenues in some WTO members (TN/MA/W/40);

● modalities on the reduction of non-tariff barriers (NTBs).

A survey on modalities already proposed within the NGMA has been circulated by the WTO Secretariat as TN/MA/9.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as TN/MA/M/6.

See also the Chairman’s report to the last session of the TNC (TN/MA/11).

Dispute Settlement Body (Special Session)

03 November 2003

Agenda under WTO/AIR/2185/REV.1, the topics include:

● Continuation of the work on clarifications and improvements to the DSU: discussion of conceptual ideas;

● Issue-by-issue discussion, building on the work done so far;

● Discussion of a comprehensive proposal by Mexico (JOB(03)/208) on 10 November 2003.

Committee on Trade and Environment (Special Session)

30-31 October

Highlights of continuing work by paragraph under the Doha Declaration:

● paragraph 31(i): relationship between WTO rules and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). See the most recent version of the WTO Secretariat document Matrix on Trade Measures Pursuant to Selected MEAs (WT/CTE/W/160/Rev.2);

● paragraph 31(iii): (a definition and) liberalisation of environmental goods and services; On goods see submissions by a selection of African countries (TN/MA/W/40) and the US (TN/TE/W/38), and on services see an existing (non-WTO) classification in MTN.GNS/W/120;

● paragraph 32(i): market access. See the submission by India (WT/CTE/W/207) on how environmental measures in developed countries may hamper imports of potentially environmentally friendly goods from developing countries;

● paragraph 33: capacity building and environmental reviews. Work remains at the exploratory stage.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as WT/CTE/M/34.

Trade Policy Review Body – Haiti, Guyana

4 and 6 November

31 October

Consists of:

● a report by the Secretariat;

● a report by the government undergoing the review;

● circulation of the draft report to the members prior to the meeting;

● a report by the lead discussant (normally a developed country with a close relationship to the country in question)

● concluding remarks by the Chair of the TPRB.

Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade

23-24 October

5-6, 7 November

Agenda items of interest may include:

● statements on the implementation and administration of the agreement;

● technical assistance;

● preparations for the third triennial review of the operation and implementation of the TBT Agreement under Article 15.4;

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as G/TBT/M/30.

Dispute Settlement Body

2 October

7 November and

1 December

The DSB meetings have standing agenda items on surveillance of implementation of recommendations adopted and on the setting up of panels following requests by members.

It would be interesting to note that two cases of particular interest to developing countries are still pending under the DSB: the disputes over subsidies on sugar (WT/DS283) and on cotton (WT/DS267)

See WTO/AIR/2174 for the 2 October meeting.

Sub-Committee on Least –Developed Countries

2 October and

8 December

Agenda items of interest may include:

● accession of LDCs: see Secretariat document JOB(03)/87 for status for LDCs accessions and the Guidelines (WT/L/508) designed to facilitate accessions processes;

● market access for LDCs: an updated version of the LDC market access study prepared by the Secretariat (TN/MA/S/7) should be introduced during the October meeting;

● enhancing the participation of LDCs in the multilateral trading system: continued discussion of the Secretariat paper WT/COMTD/LDC/W/30;

● trade-related technical assistance and capacity-building initiatives for LDCs: see WT/COMTD/W/112 for a report on activities during first quarter of 2003.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as WT/COMTD/LDC/M/33.

See WTO/AIR/2163/Rev.1.

Committee on Rules of Origin

3, 9 October and

17-20, 21 November

Agenda items of interest may include:

● consultations on issues related to rules of origin;

● the work programme for harmonisation.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as G/RO/M/42.

Committee on Trade Related Investment Measures

3 October and

3 December

Agenda items of interest may include:

● notifications under Article 6.2 of the TRIMS Agreement: see G/TRIMS/N/2/Rev.10 for the most recent compilation of notifications;

● proposals on special and differential treatment provisions referred to the Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures by the Chairman of the General Council: see TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2 for the African Group proposal.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as G/TRIMS/M/17.

Committee on Trade and Development

14-15 October

27 November

Agenda items of interest may include:

● notifications under the Enabling Clause relating to the Generalized System of Preferences: see WT/COMTD/N/15/Add.1 for recent Canadian notification introduced at the previous meeting;

● technical cooperation and training: see the report on technical assistance activities for 2002 (WT/COMTD/W/101/Add.4);

● declining terms of trade for primary commodities, and its implication to trade and development of primary commodity exporting countries;

● electronic commerce: see background note by the WTO Secretariat (WT/COMTD/W/110);

● paragraph 51 of the Doha Declaration (developmental and environmental aspects of the negotiations): see document negotiated at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WT/COMTD/W/106/Rev.1);

● notification procedures for regional trade agreements among developing countries: a legal note by the WTO Secretariat WT/COMTD/W/114 addresses the question of notification requirements for RTAs between developing countries to the WTO Committee on Regional Trade Agreements

● dedicated session to the work on small economies (See WTO/AIR/2167)

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as WT/COMTD/M/44.

See WTO/AIR/2567.

General Council

21-22 October and
15-16, 18 December

Agenda items of interest may include:

● the way forward on implementing the Ministerial Statement from Cancun (WT/MIN(03)/W/24)

● outstanding implementation issues (WT/MIN(01)/17 and JOB(01)/152/Rev.1).

The most recent minutes can be found as WT/GC/M/81.

Council for Trade in Goods

3-4 November

24 November

11-12 December

The 3-4 November and 11-12 December meetings are to focus on trade facilitation and Agenda items of interest may include:

● work programme under Articles V, VIII and X of the GATT 1994;

● needs and priorities of members, particularly developing and least developed country members;

● technical assistance and capacity-building

● review of the operation of the TRIMS Agreement under Article 9;

● market access issues;

● work programme on electronic commerce.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as G/C/M/70.

Council for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

18-21 November

Negotiations over paragraph 6 of the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health were successfully concluded just prior to Cancun: see Decision of 30 August 2003 (WT/L/540).

Agenda items of interest may include:

● review of legislations;

● relationship between TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD);

● protection of traditional knowledge and folklore;

● non-violation and situation complaints;

● technical cooperation and capacity-building;

● special and differential treatment proposals referred to the Council.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as IP/C/M/40.

Committee on Agriculture

20 November

Agenda items of interest may include:

● implementation of commitments under the reform programme: Article 18.6 of the AoA;

● follow-up report on Implementation Related Issues (JOB(02)/152/Rev.1);

● proposal by the African Group in the context of the review by the Committee on Trade and Development of all special and differential treatment provisions: see paragraph 52 of TN/CTD/W/3/Rev.2 and the Chairman’s report on this issue to the General Council (G/AG/17 and Corr.1);

● Implementation of the Decision on Net Food Importing Developing Countries (NFIDCs).

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as G/AG/R/35. 

Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance

4 November

Paragraph 36 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration Agenda not yet available, but issues to be discussed may include.

● the relationship between trade, debt and finance, and the international financial architecture;

● trade policy and financial stability;

● external debt and trade;

● market access for highly indebted low-income countries;

● coherence: follow-up of the General Council meeting of 13 May 2003;

● relevant WTO rules;

● the future work programme.

See WT/WGTDF/W17.

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as WT/WGTDF/M/6.

Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology

9 November

Paragraph 37 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration; issues may include:

● individual country experiences;

● studies submitted by universities and international organisations;

● relevant work carried out by other WTO bodies;

● the future work programme.

See the Secretariat background note on the country experiences on technology transfers (WT/WGTTT/W/3).

The minutes for the most recent meeting are available as WT/WGTTT/M/7.

A Symposium on “Intellectual Property and Transfer of Technology” will be convened by the WTO on 17 November 2003.

2-3 November

Agenda not yet available, but should address the continuation of work on:

● the operation of agreements (see WT/REG/W/42);

● systemic implications of regional trade agreements for the multilateral trading system (see WT/REG/W/38).

Committee of Participants on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products

16 October and

16 December

Agenda not yet available

Textiles Monitoring Body

22 October

17-19 November

10-12 December

The work undertaken by this organ should get renewed attention from the developing countries and LDCs, in particular in light of the sectoral initiative on cotton brought by the four African countries (TN/AG/GEN/4&6; WT/MIN(03)/W/02) and of the expected phase-out of the quotas administered under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) in 2004.

Committee on Government Procurement

27-29 November

Agenda not yet available

Subjects to be Discussed

Workshop on Technical Barriers to Trade

21-22 October

Agenda not yet available

Workshop on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures

31 October

Agenda not yet available

Seminar – Regional Trade Agreements

14 November

Agenda not yet available

Symposium – “Intellectual Property and Transfer of Technology”

17 November

Agenda not yet available

10-14 November

Developments on the stocktaking and the way forward after the Cancun WTO Ministerial Conference, in order to push ahead the Doha Work Programme.

Issues of particular interest to Non-Residents may include:

· Reports from the Chairs of the negotiating bodies to the TNC;

· Other meetings.

14 November

After AITIC launched the first English version of the AITIC Glossary of Commonly Used International Trade Terminology with Particular Reference to the WTO in Cancun, the French and Spanish versions of the Glossary, as well as a revised version of the English one, were launched at a reception on Friday 14 November 2003.

After making use of numerous electronic sources, AITIC has fulfilled a particular need of LACs: a multilingual dictionary of international trade that includes definitions of the terms repeatedly used by delegates in Geneva, and their equivalents in the three languages of the WTO.

To make the glossary more “user-friendly” it has been divided into three parts. Part I contains definitions of commonly used international trade and WTO-related terms. Part II is a compilation of international organisations, groups, associations, conferences and meetings of relevance to international trade and WTO issues. It provides a guide through the labyrinth of formal and informal organisations and groups that have a direct or an indirect link to international trade. Part III contains abbreviations and acronyms.