RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/7
16November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3593)
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF30OCTOBER-1 NOVEMBER 1995
1. TheNegotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services held itsseventh meeting on
30October-1 November 1995. Theagenda ofthemeeting wascontained inAirgram WTO/AIR/189
of16October 1995.
2. Under itemAoftheagenda, requests forobserver status, theChairman welcomed Peru-an
original Member oftheWTO forwhom acceptance bytheGroup wasautomatic uponannouncement.
WithPeru, therewerenowforty-two fullparticipants, fifteen observer governments andthreeobserver
organizations intheGroup.
3. Under itemBoftheagenda -responses tothequestionnaire onmaritime transport services,
theChairman saidthatsince thelastmeeting oftheGroup twomore setsofquestionnaire replies -
those oftheCzech Republic andIndia-hadbeenreceived, bringing tothirty-four thenumber ofreplies
receivedfromfullparticipantsandtwofromobservergovernments.Adraftaddendumtothecompilation
ofquestionnaire replies hadbeenprepared andcirculated bytheSecretariat, containing eight setsof
replies examined attheJulymeeting oftheGroup. Hestressed thatwhile there were eight full
participants andthirteen observers thathadnotyetsubmitted replies tothequestionnaire, itwasclear
thattheGroup wascoming totheendofthefactual stage ofitswork, having onlyeight months to
reach theendofitsmandate inJune1996. Hethenopened thefloor fortheexamination ofnewsets
ofquestionnaire replies.
4. There werenoquestions asked withrespect tothereplies submitted bytheRepublic ofSlovenia
(S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.28) andtheCzech Republic (S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.35). Therepresentative of
Cuba saidthatherdelegation would provide further clarifications onpoints raised atthemeeting in
thenearfuture. Reacting toacomment made byanother delegation ontheopenness ofhiscountry 's
maritime regime asevident from thequestionnaire replies given inS/NGMTS/W/2/Add.27, the
representative oftheDominican Republic saidthathisgovernment wascurrently studying theexisting
national regulatory framework applying tothemaritime transport sector withaviewtodefining the
Dominican Republic 'spolicy vis-à-vis international agreements relevant tothesector.
5. There were afewquestions onthesetofquestionnaire replies submitted byIndia
(S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.36). Onthereply toQuestion 8(a),(b)and(c)ofPartII,therepresentative
ofIndiasaidthatthemodified cargo support scheme referred tointhereply applied tobothgovernment
andprivate cargoes, albeit fullyonavoluntary basis-i.e.,intheabsence ofanygovernment regulation.
Inaddition, heclarified thatthisscheme would nowapply tocompanies other thanthethree which
hadbenefitted fromthemeasure inthepast;thescheme essentially ensured thatnational shipping lines
carried allcargo theycould inlinerroutes, particularly intheIndia/UK/Continent route. Heexplained
thattheacquisition ofships inIndia waspreviously regulated bytheso-called Tonnage Acquisition
Committee which based itsdecisions ontheoverall interest oftheeconomy. Given therecent increase
intotalvolume oftrade inIndia, theCommittee hadrelaxed itsregulation andpermitted thefree
acquisition ofanykindofship,butstillwithaviewtoachieving certain share levels fornational-flag
vessels. Cargo support didnotinvolve anymonetary inducement oranyother measures aimed to
induce Indian shippers toshiptheirgoods inIndian ships.S/NGMTS/7
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6. Therepresentative ofIndiaconfirmed thatproposed cargo shares fornational-flag vessels were
expected tobeachieved through current liberalization measures taken bythegovernment. Hesaid
thatIndia hadapolicy whereby thegovernment expected selling oncifbasisandbuying onfobbasis,
thereby giving therightofnominating theshipping linetotheIndian exporter orimporter. Incase
some cifcargo wasexported anditwasfound thatadequate orsuitable Indian tonnage wasnotavailable,
permission could beobtained fromthedirector-general ofshipping. Interms ofoilcargoes, alldomestic
oilshipments were co-coordinated bytheso-called OilCo-ordination Committee which gavefirst
preference toIndian-flag vessels andonlypermitted transport byforeign-flag vessels whenever no
adequate national crude-oil tonnage wasavailable. OnthereplytoQuestion 9,hesaidthatnopermission
wasneeded touseportfacilities inIndia; access tosuch facilities wasinfactopen andnon-
discriminatory. Onthereply toQuestions 20and21,hereferred totheinformation given inthereply
toQuestion 9ofPartIasanindication ofcountries withwhich Indiahadbilateral Shipping Agreements
butwould come backinthefuture withawritten reply onthatpoint. Onthereply toQuestion 22,
heconfirmed thattheallocation ofcargo wasallundertaken onavoluntary basis, without anyformal
government mandatory requirement onshippers.
7. Before concluding itemBoftheagenda, theChairman reminded theGroup thatitsmandate
wastonegotiate commitments in"international shipping, auxiliary services andaccess toanduseof
portfacilities" andtoconclude negotiations byJune1996. Thefactual stage ofthework, through
thequestionnaires,hadbeeninstrumentalingivingtheGroupabetterbasisfornegotiatingcommitments.
Also,aconsensusseemedtoexistthatthedraftscheduleconstitutedagoodframeworkforthenegotiation
ofcommitments. Hesaidthatsixparticipants hadreinstated inJulythebestoffers theyhadonthe
tableattheconclusion ofthenegotiations inDecember 1993-namely, theEU,Japan, Norway, Canada,
Australia andNewZealand. Atthattime, thirty-two outofforty-six countries hadchosen tomaintain
theircommitments inmaritime transport services intheirfinalschedules andtwenty-eight ofthose
hadchosen tomaintain theirfullofferinstead ofdowngrading itasafewhad.TheChairman expressed
concern thatnotallmajor orsignificant participants hadyetputoffers onthetable. Hethenopened
thefloor forcomments onthesubject ofthewayforward.
8. Several delegations spoke ontheneedforoffers from acritical mass ofcountries and,in
particular, from onemajor maritime nation. Some stressed thatbothnewoffers andimprovements
toexisting offers were needed tomaintain themomentum inthenegotiations. Onedelegation said
thatinitsbilateral contacts itdidnotdetect anyspecial willingness onthepartofothers totableoffers
butthatitwould reconsider tabling itsownofferinthepresence ofmore positive signals fromacritical
mass ofcountries. TheChairman saidthatiftheGroup wastoseriously intensify thenegotiation of
liberalization commitments, allparticipants needed tocontribute toensure thatthere were offers of
sufficient interest onthetable. Inthatcontext, itwasnecessary notonlyforcountries thathadnot
yetputoffers onthetabletodosoassoonaspossible butalsoforthose thatalready hadoffers on
thetabletolookintoways tomake further improvements. Hesuggested thattheGroup setaside the
fullweek ofthe4-8December forafurther intensified process ofnegotiations atalllevels -i.e.,
multilateral, plurilateral andbilateral. Hecalled onparticipants tobring forward neworimproved
offers by1December. Inaccordance withasuggestion made fromthefloor, heasked theSecretariat
toprepare anotewhich could bemade available upon request onthecurrent situation ofindividual
participating countries inthenegotiating group (e.g., regarding submission ofquestionnaire replies,
conditional offers, schedules, m.f.n. exemption lists, etc.).
9. Thethirditemoftheagenda wastheconsideration ofthedraftschedule onmaritime transport
services. TheChairman saidthathisconsultations onthedraftschedule ingeneral andontheissue
ofmultimodal transport inparticular hadbeenveryconstructive. Herecognized thatthecoverage
ofmultimodal transport services wasultimately apolicy issuebutsuggested thatastheGroup continued
tonarrow differences itcould findthatdealing withitwasnotasdifficult intechnical terms asoriginally
anticipated.S/NGMTS/7
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10. Thefourthitemoftheagendawasmattersrelatingtoparagraph7oftheDecisiononNegotiations
onMaritime Transport Services. Therepresentative ofJapan informed theGroup thattheJapanese
government waspreparing adémarche ,incooperation withWestern European countries members of
theConsultative Shipping Group (CSG), which would soonbehanded toMr.Warren Christopher,
regarding abill,passed already inbothhouses oftheUnited States Congress, which would liftthe
banontheexport ofAlaskan North Slope Oilonthebasisofaunilateral cargo reservation forU.S.-flag
vessels. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthatthelegislation would notviolate paragraph
7oftheDecision since itwould notimprove theU.S.negotiating position. Oilfrom Alaska could
notcurrently betransported inforeign vessels asitwasonlyshipped toU.S.ports. Thebillwould
actuallyincreaseopportunitiesforforeignshippersbecauseoilimportedbytheU.S.fromothercountries
would havetosubstitute fortheAlaskan oilthatwould beexported under thelegislation. Foreign
shippers would befreetocompete tosupply thisnewsource ofoiltotheUnited States. The
representatives oftheEC,Norway, Malaysia andHong Kong expressed theirconcern withthepossible
implementation ofthebillandrelated negative effects ontheNGMTS negotiations.
11. Regarding dates offuture meetings, theGroup agreed onhaving itsnextmeeting during the
firstweek ofDecember. Theprecise datewould becommunicated shortly.