WORLD TRADE WT/L/105
24November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3738)
PROCEDURES FOR ANANNUAL OVERVIEW OFWTO
ACTIVITIES AND FOR REPORTING UNDER THE WTO
Adopted bytheGeneral Council on15November 1995
1. Reporting procedures forsectoral Councils andtheirsubsidiary bodies1
Allbodies constituted under Annex 1AAgreements shallberequired tosubmit afactual report
totheCouncil forTrade inGoods. Thesame shallapply tothesubsidiary bodies established bythe
CouncilforTradeinServicesandtheCouncilforTrade-RelatedIntellectualPropertyRights.Thereports
ofthesectoral councils would befactual innature, containing anindication ofactions anddecisions
taken, withcross references toreports ofsubordinate bodies andcould follow themodel oftheGATT
1947Council reports totheCONTRACTING PARTIES. Therespective sectoral councils should report
inNovember eachyeartotheGeneral Council ontheactivities intheCouncil aswellasinthesubsidiary
bodies.
2. Reporting procedures fortheCommittees onTrade andDevelopment, onBudget, Finance and
Administration andonBalance-of-Payments Restrictions
TheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment shallsubmit areport totheGeneral Council at
theendofeachyear. TheCommittees onBudget, Finance andAdministration andonBalance-of-
Payments willalsosubmit, inaddition toreports submitted during thecourse oftheyearonspecific
issues, ashort factual report attheendoftheyear.
3. Reporting procedures fortheCommittees onPlurilateral Trade Agreements
TheCommittees onthePlurilateral Trade Agreements referred toinArticle IV:8oftheWTO
Agreement shallbeinvited toreport annually totheGeneral Council.
4. Action bytheGeneral Council andthesectoral councils
Thesectoral councils willtakenoteofreports oftheirsubsidiary bodies.
TheGeneral Council willtakenoteofthereports bythesectoral councils, which would serve
asabasis foranoverview oftheactivities oftheWTO inthecourse oftheyear. Thereport ofthe
Committee onTrade andDevelopment willbeadopted bytheGeneral Council. Thereports ofthe
other subsidiary bodies mentioned initem2above would bedulynoted.
1ItshouldbenotedthattheMarrakesh MinisterialDecisiononTradeandEnvironment ,whichdecidedontheestablishment
ofaCommittee onTrade andEnvironment, directed thatCommittee toreport tothefirstbiennial meeting oftheMinisterial
Conference "when thework andterms ofreference oftheCommittee willbereviewed, inthelightofrecommendations
oftheCommittee." ThisCommittee istherefore notreferred tointhereporting procedures setoutbelow.
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TheGeneral Council would alsotakenoteofthereports bytheCommittees onPlurilateral
Trade Agreements referred toinArticle IV:8oftheWTO Agreement.
5. Overview bytheMinisterial Conference
TheGeneral Council willprepare areport onitsactivities every yearwhich would contain
afirstsection ofafactual nature, summarizing actions anddecisions taken bytheGeneral Council
during theyear;asection ondispute settlement; asection ontradepolicy reviews; andacross reference
tothereports ofsectoral councils andtheCommittees mentioned initem2above.
TheMinisterial Conference would carry outanoverview oftheactivities oftheWTO over
theprevious twoyears onthebasis oftheannual reports oftheGeneral Council. Inyears when the
Ministerial Conference doesnotmeet, theGeneral Council would carry outanannual overview of
theWTO activities asmentioned initem4above.
Theoverview ofactivities oftheWTO based onthese reports could bepartofanAgenda item
forgeneral statements attheMinisterial Conference, which could readasfollows: "Overview ofWTO
Activities."