RESTRICTED
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE PC/M/10
FOR THE 19December 1994
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
(94-2845)
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THE
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
MINUTES OFMEETING
Held attheInternational Conference Centre, Geneva,
on8December 1994, ontheoccasion oftheImplementation Conference
1. ThePreparatory Committee fortheWorld Trade Organization (WTO) helditstenthmeeting
under theChairmanship ofMr.Peter D.Sutherland.
2. TheChairman recalled thattheImplementation Conference hadbeenconvened inaccordance
withparagraph 3oftheFinal ActEmbodying theResults oftheUruguay Round ofMultilateral Trade
Negotiations. Henoted thattheProvisional Agenda wascontained inAirgram PC/AIR/40,
GATT/AIR/3652, andproposed thatitbeadopted.
3. TheAgenda wasadopted.
A. Dateofentry intoforce oftheWTO Agreement
4. TheChairman proposed thatthePreparatory Committee confirm 1January 1995 asthedate
ofentry intoforce oftheWTO. Thisconfirmation would bebased ontheCommittee 'sunderstanding
thatmembers werecommitted tobringing theWTO intoforceon1January 1995andwould bemaking
every effort toconclude theirdomestic ratification processes tothisend. Inthiscontext, herecalled
thatparagraph 7oftheMinisterial Decision Establishing thePreparatory Committee kepttheCommittee
inplace untiltheentry intoforce oftheWTO. Atthemeeting oftheCommittee on23November,
hehadalready envisaged theneed foratleast onemore meeting oftheCommittee after the
Implementation Conference tofinalize andadopt thereport oftheCommittee totheWTO, taking into
account thework doneinDecember. Itwasunderstood thatatsuchameeting theCommittee would
alsobefreetoreview, ifnecessary, thesituation regarding theconclusions reached attheImplementation
Conference.
5. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement andsoagreed.
B. Consideration ofthedraftreport ofthePreparatory Committee totheWTO, including action,
asappropriate, onspecific parts oftheCommittee 'smandate
6. TheChairman drew attention toasetofdecisions onbudgetary matters tobetaken bythe
Committee, which werecontained indocument PC/W/8, W.50/11 andCorr.1 and2.These concerned,
respectively, thebudget estimates for1995 (paragraph 15onpage4);procedures fortheWTO and
GATT 1947Committees onBudget, Finance andAdministration during theperiod inwhich theWTO
Agreement wasopenforacceptance (paragraph 6onpage12);andcontributions totheInternational
Trade Centre, UNCTAD/GATT (paragraph 21onpage13).PC/M/10
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7. TheCommittee adopted thereport inPC/W/8, W.50/11 andCorr.1 and2,including thespecific
recommendations contained therein andtheResolution ontheexpenditure in1995 andtheways and
means tomeet thatexpenditure (PC/6). TheCommittee thenagreed totransmit thereport tothe
CONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947 foraction.1
8. TheChairman drew attention totwoother draft decisions onbudgetary, financial and
administrative matters. These concerned, respectively, measures todealwithWTO Members with
threeormoreyears'assessed contributions outstanding (PC/W/13, W.50/20), andfinancial obligations
ofStates orseparate customs territories thatwereobservers totheWTO (PC/W/14, W.50/21/Rev.1).
ThesedraftdecisionsandrecommendationshadbeenapprovedbytheSub-CommitteeonBudget,Finance
andAdministration aswellasbytheGATT 1947Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration.
9. Heproposed thattheCommittee approve therecommendations inparagraphs 7(a),(b),(d)
and(e)ofPC/W/13, W.50/20, andthattherecommendations inparagraphs 7(c)and(f)betransmitted
forconsideration in1995 bytherelevant WTO bodies.
10. TheCommittee soagreed (PC/7).
11. Hethenproposed thattheCommittee approve therecommendation inparagraph 4ofPC/W/14,
W.50/21/Rev.1.
12. TheCommittee soagreed (PC/8). TheCommittee thenagreed totransmit thetexts in
documents PC/W/13, W.50/20 andPC/W/14, W.50/21/Rev.1 totheCONTRACTING PARTIES to
GATT 1947 foraction.2
13. TheChairmandrewattentiontothedraftdecisionpertainingtothetransferofassetsandliabilities
between theICITO/GATT andtheWTO (PC/W/12, 6SS/W/1). Heproposed thattheCommittee adopt
thedecisionindocumentPC/W/12,6SS/W/1andagreetotransmitittotheCONTRACTINGPARTIES
toGATT 1947, meeting inSpecial Session, andtotheExecutive Committee oftheICITO, foraction.
14. TheCommittee soagreed (PC/9).3
15. TheChairman thendrew attention toasetoftwodraftdecisions setting outtheterms forthe
continuation oftheGATT 1947andtheTokyo Round agreements aftertheentryintoforceoftheWTO.
Thefirst, indocument PC/W/15, 6SS/W/4, concerned theparticipation inmeetings ofWTO bodies
bycertain signatories oftheFinalActeligible tobecome original members oftheWTO, andthesecond,
indocument PC/W/16, 6SS/W/2, concerned theavoidance ofprocedural andinstitutional duplication.
These draftdecisions hadbeenapproved bytheSub-Committee onInstitutional, Procedural andLegal
Matters andrecommended foradoption bythePreparatory Committee. Heproposed thattheCommittee
adopt thedraft decisions andagree totransmit thedecision inPC/W/16, 6SS/W/2 andPC/W/15,
6SS/W/4 totheCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947, meeting inSpecial Session, foraction.
1AttheirFiftiethSessionon8-9December ,theCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947adoptedthereportinPC/W /8,
W.50/11 andCorr.1 and2,including thespecific recommendations therein andtheResolution onexpenditure in1995 and
theways andmeans tomeet thatexpenditure (L/7577).
2Attheir Fiftieth Session on8-9December, theCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947 tookaction onthetwo
texts similar tothattaken bythePreparatory Committee (L/7578 andL/7579).
3TheCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947, meeting inSpecial Session ontheoccasion oftheImplementation
Confer ence, adoptedthedecisioninPC/W /12,6SS/W/1(L/7580). Atameetingheldon8December ,theExecut iveCommi ttee
fortheICITO alsoadopted thedecision inPC/W/12, 6SS/W/1 (ICITO/1/39).PC/M/10
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16. TheCommittee soagreed (PC/10 and11).4
17. TheChairman thendrewattention toasetoffivedraftdecisions pertaining tothetransitional
coexistence ofGATT 1947 andtheWTO Agreement ontheonehand andtotheTokyo Round
Agreements onanti-dumping practices andonsubsidies andcountervailing measures andtheWTO
Agreement ontheother, assetoutindocuments PC/W/17, 6SS/W/3; PC/W/22, 6SS/W/5; PC/W/23,
6SS/W/6; PC/W/24, 6SS/W/7; andPC/W/25, 6SS/W/8. Heproposed thattheCommittee adopt
thesedecisions andagree totransmit themtotheCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947, meeting
inSpecial Session, foraction.
18. TheCommittee soagreed (PC/12, 13,14,15and16).5
19. Therepresentative ofMexico recalled thatattheCommittee 'smeeting on7December, his
delegation hadindicated thatsome technical issues were stillpending inrespect oftransitional
arrangements. These issues hadbeenthesubject ofaplurilateral meeting aswellasbilateral contacts
thedaybefore, atwhich ithadbeenconfirmed thatthetransitional arrangements thattheCommittee
hadjustadopted didnotaffect norprejudice inanywaytherights andobligations, whether substantive
orprocedural, ofWTO Members under theAgreement establishing theWTO. Itwaswiththis
understanding, andwithaview tomaking anadditional effort towards therapid entry intoforce of
theWTO, thathisdelegation wasinaposition toinform theCommittee thatMexico hoped thatthe
transitionalarrangementsreferredtofunctionedappropriatelyandthat,ascircumstancesevolved,Mexico
would make useofthevarious provisions thereof asappropriate.
20. TheChairman expressed hisgratitude fortheefforts made byMexico andothers toresolve
thisissuesatisfactorily. Hethenproposed thattheCommittee, atthisstage, takenoteofthedraftreport
totheWTO ascontained indocument PC/R/W/1/Rev.1. Ashadbeenagreed, subsequent developments
would beincorporated intothenextrevision ofthedraftreport.
21. TheCommittee soagreed.
22. TheChairmansaidthatthreeissuesremainedoutstanding,namely,theHeadquartersAgreement;
thedateandprovisional agenda forthefirstmeeting oftheGeneral Council (paragraph 8(c)(v) ofthe
Decision establishing theCommittee); andthecomposition andchairmanship oftheTextiles Monitoring
Body (paragraph 8(c)(iv) oftheDecision establishing theCommittee). There wasalsotheongoing
process under paragraph 8(b)(i), which wasproceeding satisfactorily andshould beconcluded by
mid-December. Hesuggested thattheremaining daysahead beusedtofocus ontheissues outstanding.
Hesaidheintended tostartconsultations onfinalizing thelogistics forthefirstmeeting oftheGeneral
Council. Also, consultations would beintensified tosettle theissueoftheTMB. Finally, theChairman
oftheSub-Committee onBudget, Finance andAdministration would beaccelerating theprocess on
theHeadquarters Agreement. Hehoped thatatitsnextmeeting theCommittee would haveproposals,
oratleastreports onimportant developments, inallthese areas.
23. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatement.
4TheCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947, meeting inSpecial Session ontheoccasion oftheImplementation
Confer ence, adoptedthedecisioninPC/W /16,6SS/W/2(L/7582), andtooknoteofthedecisioninPC/W /15,6SS/W/4(L/7581).
5TheCONTRACTING PARTIES toGATT 1947, meeting inSpecial Session ontheoccasion oftheImplementation
Conference, adopted thedecision inPC/W/17, 6SS/W/3 (L/7583). TheCONTRACTING PARTIES tooknoteoftheother
decisions andagreed totransmit them totherelevant Tokyo Round Code Committees foraction (L/7584, L/7585, L/7586,
L/7587). Atmeetings heldon8December, theTokyo Round Committees onAnti-Dumping Practices andonSubsidies
andCountervailing Measures adopted thedecisions referred tothem (ADP/131 and132; SCM/186 and187).