RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/GC/W/15
3November 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3408)
PROCEDURES FOR ANANNUAL OVERVIEW OFWTO
ACTIVITIES AND FOR REPORTING UNDER THE WTO
Thefollowing letter fromtheChairman oftheGeneral Council iscirculated forinformation
ofMembers.
_______________
Asyouareaware theGATT CONTRACTING PARTIES maintained thepractice ofcarrying
outanoverview oftheactivities under theGATT attheirannual session attheendofeachyear. It
would seemuseful ifasimilar practice wereadopted fortheWTO. Furthermore, theWTO Agreement
provides inArticle IVthatthesectoral councils oftheWTO shall oversee thefunctioning ofthe
respective multilateral trade agreements under theirpurview. Article IValsostates thatthesectoral
councils shalloperate under thegeneral guidance oftheGeneral Council.
InordertoensuretheefficientoperationofthesystemandtoensurethattheAgreementfunctions
asasingle undertaking, ittherefore appears indispensable toestablish clearreporting procedures for
themain WTO bodies aswellastheirsubsidiary organs.
Withtheseconsiderations inmind, Ihaveconsulted withtheSecretariat andotherChairpersons
andhaveprepared theattached paper onWTO reporting procedures. Inowwishtopresent thistext
foryourconsideration, before submitting ittotheGeneral Council atitsmeeting on15November
1995.
Delegations areinvited toaddress anyquestions orcomments totheCouncil Division, telephone
739.51.37.WT/GC/W/15
Page2
PROCEDURES FOR ANANNUAL OVERVIEW OFWTO
ACTIVITIES AND FOR REPORTING UNDER THE WTO
TheMarrakeshAgreementEstablishingtheWTOdealswiththequestionofreportingprocedures
between WTO bodies inavaried manner. Insome instances, there isnomention ofanyreporting
requirement. Itistherefore urgent todetermine what, ifany,reporting procedures should beestablished
within thesystem.
TheMultilateral Agreements onTrade inGoods (Annex 1AoftheWTO Agreement), provide
forreporting procedures fromsome oftherespective Committees totheCouncil forTrade inGoods,
although theprovisions arenotdrafted inauniform manner. Itmaybenoted thatArticle IV:5of
theWTO Agreement provides thattheCouncil forTrade inGoods shalloversee thefunctioning of
theMultilateral Trade Agreements inAnnex 1A.Similarly, Article IV:5stipulates thattheCouncil
forTrade inServices shalloversee thefunctioning oftheGATS andthattheCouncil forTRIPS shall
oversee thefunctioning oftheAgreement onTRIPS. Article IV:8oftheWTO Agreement states that
"thebodies provided forunder thePlurilateral Trade Agreements ..shallkeeptheGeneral Council
informed oftheiractivities onaregular basis."
TheWTO Agreement contains noprovisions onreporting procedures between thethreesectoral
Councils andtheGeneral Council, although itprovides, inArticle IV:5, thatthesectoral Councils
shalloperate under thegeneral guidance oftheGeneral Council. TheWTO Agreement alsodoesnot
provide foranyreports from theGeneral Council tothebiennial Ministerial Conference.
TheAgreement isalsosilent regarding periodic reporting procedures forothersubsidiary bodies
oftheGeneral Council, i.e.theCommittees onTrade andDevelopment,1Balance-of-Payments
Restrictions, andBudget, Finance andAdministration.2
Itwould appear thattheestablishment ofappropriate procedures forsubsidiary bodies toreport
annually totheGeneral Council isessential inorder toenable theGeneral Council tocarry outaregular
overview ofthefunctioning ofthemultilateral trading system under theWTO.
Inthelightoftheabove, thefollowing procedures might beexamined:
1. Reporting procedures forsectoral Councils andtheirsubsidiary bodies3
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
1Article IV:7 onlystipulates thataspartofitsfunctions theCommittee onTrade andDevelopment shall periodically
review thespecial provisions intheMultilateral Trade Agreements infavour ofleast-developed countries andreport tothe
General Council.
2Itmaybenoted, however, thatpursuant totheprocedures andcustomary practices followed bytheCONTRACTING
PARTIES totheGATT 1947, boththeCommittee onBalance-of-Payments Restrictions andtheCommittee onBudget, Finance
andAdministration submit regular reports totheGeneral Council following anyconsultation ormeeting held.
3ItshouldbenotedthattheMarrakesh 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.WT/GC/W/15
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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. TheCommittee onBudget, Finance andAdministration andonBalance-of-
Payments willalsosubmit acomprehensive report attheendoftheyearinaddition toreports which
maybesubmitted during thecourse oftheyearonspecific issues.
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. Thereports ofthe
other subsidiary bodies mentioned initem2above would bedulyadopted.
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; andacrossreference
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."