RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/RO/3
12January 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0093)
Committee onRules ofOrigin
FIRST ANNUAL REVIEW OFTHE IMPLEMENTATION AND
OPERATION OFTHE AGREEMENT ONRULES OFORIGIN
Background Document bytheSecretariat
Article 6:1oftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin provides that"theCommittee shallreview
annually theimplementation andoperation ofPartIIandPartIIIofthisAgreement having regard to
itsobjectives". Themainobjectives oftheAgreement arethose listed inthepreambular paragraphs.
Atitsmeeting of29November 1995, theCommittee conducted itsfirstannual review onthe
basis ofdocument G/RO/W/8. Thepresent revised version ofthatdocument takes intoaccount the
points made during thatreview andthework oftheCommittee atthatmeeting asawhole.
The information contained inthisdocument covers theperiod from 1January to
31December 1995.
Thecontents ofthisdocument areasfollows:
Page
1. Members andObserver Status under theAgreement 2
2. Officers oftheWTO Committee onRules ofOrigin 3
3. Meetings oftheCommittee 3
4. National rules oforigin provided 3
5. Amendments, interpretations andrectifications ofthe
textoftheAgreement 5
6. Other decisions taken bytheCommittee 6
7. Report bytheTechnical Committee onRules ofOrigin 6
8. Substantial difficulties encountered byMembers in 7
applying theAgreement
9. Consultation anddispute settlement 7
10. Annual Report (1995) totheCouncil forTrade inGoods 7G/RO/3
Page2
1. MEMBERS AND OBSERVER STATUS UNDER THE AGREEMENT
(a) MEMBERS (112)
Antigua andBarbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Côted'Ivoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
ElSalvador
European Communities
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Ghana
GreeceGuatemala
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Guyana
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Kenya
Korea
Kuwait
Lesotho
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Macau
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Netherlands
NewZealand
NicaraguaNigeria
Norway
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent &Grenadines
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
SriLanka
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad andTobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Zambia
ZimbabweG/RO/3
Page3
(b) OBSERVER GOVERNMENTS (40)
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Armenia
Belarus
Benin
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Chad
China
Congo
Croatia
Ecuador
EstoniaFiji
Former Yugoslav Rep.
ofMacedonia
Gambia
Grenada
Haiti
Latvia
Lithuania
Mongolia
Niger
Oman
Panama
Papua NewGuinea
QatarRussian Federation
Rwanda
Seychelles
St.KittsandNevis
Sudan
Taipei, Chinese
Tonga
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
VietNam
Zaire
(c) OBSERVER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (5)1
IMF
OECD
UNCTAD
World Bank
World Customs Organization
2. OFFICERS OFTHE WTO COMMITTEE ONRULES OFORIGIN
Chairman: Mr.C.Osakwe (Nigeria)
Vice-Chairman: Mrs. A.Ivanka (Hungary)
3. MEETINGS OFTHE COMMITTEE
During thereporting period, theCommittee hasheldfourformal meetings on4April, 27June,
16November and29November 1995. Theminutes ofthese meetings arecontained indocuments
G/RO/M/1, G/RO/M/2, andG/RO/M/3 and4(tobeissued), respectively.
4. NATIONAL RULES OFORIGIN PROVIDED
(i) Non-preferential rules oforigin
Article 5:1oftheAgreement provides thateachMember shallprovide totheSecretariat,
within 90daysafterthedateofentry intoforceoftheWTO Agreement forit,itsrulesoforigin,
judicial decisions andadministrative rulings ofgeneral application relating torulesoforigin
ineffect onthatdate. Ifbyinadvertence aruleoforigin hasnotbeenprovided, theMember
concerned shallprovide itimmediately afterthisfactbecomes known. Lists ofinformation
received andavailable within theSecretariat shall becirculated totheMembers bythe
Secretariat.
1Theinvitations ofthese fiveorganizations made bytheCouncil forTrade inGoods andtheCommittee are
adhocarrangements,pendingfinalagreemen tonguidelinesforobserverstatusforinternationalintergovernmental
organizations. These arrangements arewithout prejudice tothepositions ofdelegations infuture discussions
onthequestion ofobserver status ofinternational intergovernmental organizations.G/RO/3
Page4
During thereporting period, notifications relating tonon-preferential rules oforigin
havebeenreceived from thefollowing Members (21):
Argentina (G/RO/N/2)
Australia (G/RO/N/1)
Canada (G/RO/N/1)
Colombia (G/RO/N/1)
Cuba (G/RO/N/3)
Czech Republic (G/RO/N/2)
European Communities (G/RO/N/1)
Hong Kong (G/RO/N/1)
Hungary (G/RO/N/2)
Japan (G/RO/N/1)
Korea (G/RO/N/1)
Malta (G/RO/N/4)
Morocco (G/RO/N/2)
NewZealand (G/RO/N/1)
Peru(G/RO/N/4 and5)
Romania (G/RO/N/1)
Slovak Republic (G/RO/N/1)
Slovenia (G/RO/N/5, G/RO/N/7 -tobeissued)
South Africa (G/RO/N/3)
Switzerland (G/RO/N/4)
United States (G/RO/N/1 and6)
During thereporting period, thefollowing Members have notified thattheydonothave
non-preferential rules oforigin (14):
Brunei Darussalam (G/RO/N/5)
Chile (G/RO/N/6)
Costa Rica(G/RO/N/1)
Honduras (G/RO/N/3)
Iceland (G/RO/N/5)
India (G/RO/N/1)
Jamaica (G/RO/N/4)
Malaysia (G/RO/N/6)
Mauritius (G/RO/N/1)
Philippines (G/RO/N/6)
Singapore (G/RO/N/3)
Thailand (G/RO/N/1)
Trinidad andTobago (G/RO/N/7 -tobeissued)
Venezuela (G/RO/N/1)
(ii) Preferential rules oforigin
Paragraph 4ofAnnex IIoftheAgreement onRules ofOrigin provides thatMembers shall
provide totheSecretariat promptly theirpreferential rulesoforigin, including alisting ofthepreferential
arrangements towhich theyapply, judicial decisions, andadministrative rulings ofgeneral application
relating totheir preferential rules oforigin ineffect onthedateofentry intoforce oftheWTO
Agreement fortheMember concerned. Members shallprovide anymodifications totheirpreferentialG/RO/3
Page5
rules oforigin ornewpreferential rules oforigin assoon aspossible totheSecretariat. Lists of
information received andavailable withtheSecretariat shall becirculated totheMembers bythe
Secretariat.
During thereporting period, notifications relating topreferential rules oforigin havebeen
received from thefollowing Members (33):
Australia (G/RO/N/1)
Bolivia (G/RO/N/1)
Brunei Darussalam (G/RO/N/4)
Canada (G/RO/N/1 and6)
Chile (G/RO/N/6)
Colombia (G/RO/N/1)
Cuba (G/RO/N/3)
Czech Republic (G/RO/N/2)
Dominican Republic (G/RO/N/5)
European Communities (G/RO/N/1)
Honduras (G/RO/N/3)
Hungary (G/RO/N/2)
India (G/RO/N/1)
Indonesia (G/RO/N/4)
Japan (G/RO/N/6)
Jamaica (G/RO/N/4)
Korea (G/RO/N/7 -tobeissued)
Malaysia (G/RO/N/4)
Malta (G/RO/N/4)
Mauritius (G/RO/N/1)
Morocco (G/RO/N/2)
NewZealand (G/RO/N/1)
Peru(G/RO/N/1)
Philippines (G/RO/N/4)
Singapore (G/RO/N/3 and4)
Slovak Republic (G/RO/N/1)
Slovenia (G/RO/N/5, G/RO/N/7 -tobeissued)
Switzerland (G/RO/N/6)
Thailand (G/RO/N/1 and4)
Trinidad andTobago (G/RO/N/7 -tobeissued)
United States (G/RO/N/1 and6)
Uruguay (G/RO/N/5)
Venezuela (G/RO/N/1)
During thereporting period, Hong Kong notified thatitdoesnothavepreferential rules of
origin.
5. AMENDMENTS, INTERPRETATIONS AND RECTIFICATIONS OFTHE TEXT OF
THE AGREEMENT
During theyearunder review theCommittee hasnotdealtwithanyofthese matters.G/RO/3
Page6
6. OTHER DECISIONS TAKEN BYTHE COMMITTEE
Atitsfirstmeeting on4April 1995, theCommittee agreed that,ifanotification were tobe
made inalanguage other thanoneoftheWTO working languages, suchnotification should be
accompanied byasummary inoneoftheWTO working languages (G/RO/1)
7. REPORT BYTHE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ONRULES OFORIGIN
Inconformity withparagraph 2(c)(i) ofArticle 9oftheAgreement, theTechnical Committee
onRules ofOrigin hassubmitted totheCommittee onRules ofOrigin theFirstReport ontheResults
oftheFirstPhase oftheRules ofOrigin Harmonization Work Programme (G/RO/2).
Inconformity withparagraph 3(a)ofArticle 9oftheAgreement, theCommittee, atitsmeeting
of16November 1995, started itsreview oftheFirstReport, and:
(a) agreed toadopt thefollowing recommendation from theDrafting Group2:
- theCommitteerequeststheTechnicalCommitteetofullyproceedwithitsHarmonization
Work Programme intheabsence ofanabstractly constructed definition oftheterm
"country"; andtoforward toitunresolved practical issues relating tothedefinition
oftheterm"country", forafinaldetermination; and
- theCommittee mayrequest theDrafting Group toaddress particular issues relating
tothedefinition oftheterm"country" and,inthatconnection, tooffer clarification
thatmayenhance thework oftheTechnical Committee;
(b) agreed, asconcerns theprocess ofreviewing thereports submitted totheCommittee bythe
Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin inBrussels:
- torequest theTechnical Committee toforward ageneral format establishing theoverall
architecturaldesignwithinwhichtheresultsofthedifferentphasesoftheHarmonization
Work Programme willbefinalized, asprovided forinArticle 9.4;
- toconsider theinterpretations andopinions contained inthereports oftheTechnical
CommitteeonthedifferentphasesoftheHarmonizedWorkProgrammewhenforwarded
bytheTechnical Committee, withaviewtoendorsing them; and
- toestablish anopen-ended Working Group todealwithbracketed interpretations and
opinions oftheTechnical Committee, andconsequently forward appropriate
recommendationstotheCommitteeforafinalconsiderationanddecision.TheWorking
Group would havethefollowing terms ofreference:
- toconsider bracketed language thatmaybeincluded intheinterpretation and
opinions presented bytheTechnical Committee totheCommittee onRules
ofOrigin inorder tomake recommendations totheCommittee onRules of
Origin; and
2Inresponse toarequest from theTechnical Committee, theCommittee, atitsmeeting on27June1995,
setupaDrafting Group toelaborate adefinition oftheterm "country" forthepurposes oftheAgreement on
Rules ofOrigin.G/RO/3
Page7
- forthispurpose theWorking Group shallinclude initsconsideration allthe
information contained inthedocuments circulated bytheSecretariat ofthe
Technical Committee onRules ofOrigin;
(c) agreed thattheChairman would holdinformal consultations withMembers ontheissue of
thebinding ornon-binding nature oftheExplanatory Notes which formpartofthedefinitions elaborated
bytheTechnical Committee under thefirstphase oftheHarmonization Work Programme.
TheCommittee willcontinue itsreview ofthefirstreport atitsnextmeeting.
8. SUBSTANTIALDIFFICULTIESENCOUNTEREDBYMEMBERSINAPPLYINGTHE
AGREEMENT
During theperiod under review, noMember hasreported anysubstantial difficulty inapplying
theAgreement.
9. CONSULTATION AND DISPUTE SETTLEMENT
TheSecretariat isnotaware ofanyMember thathasrequested consultations under Article 7
oftheAgreement. Theprovision ofArticle 8hasnotbeenresorted to.
10. ANNUAL REPORT (1995) TOTHE COUNCIL FOR TRADE INGOODS
TheCommittee adopted itsannual report totheCouncil forTrade inGoods (G/RO/W/7) in
accordance withtherequirements ofArticle 6:1oftheAgreement.