ON THIS PAGE:   Introduction   The Harmonized System   Modifications of schedules   Renegotiations under GATT Article XXVIII   Current situation   Annex

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GOODS SCHEDULES: CURRENT SITUATION OF SCHEDULES

Current Situation of Schedules of WTO Members(1)

It was agreed at the Market Access Committee meeting of 22 June 1999 that Annex II of document G/MA/63, setting out the situation of schedules of WTO Members, would be updated periodically.(2) In this connection, the attached table is an update of the status of Members’ schedules incorporating information up to 1 October 2008. The introductory text contained in Annex II of the original Document G/MA/63 has been updated to take into account developments since the last revision.

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G/MA/W/23/Rev.5
I.    Introduction  back to top

    All WTO Members have a schedule of tariff concessions which is either annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the GATT 1994 or to a Protocol of Accession. Some Members have also schedules pre-dating the Uruguay Round which reflect concessions granted previously.(3)

    The attached table reflecting the current situation of schedules of WTO Members has been prepared for information purposes in order to assist, inter alia, the project team in the Secretariat updating the CTS files into HS2002(4) and into HS2007.(5) The pending work on the schedules of concessions derives from obligations related to the introduction of the Harmonized System and its subsequent amendments, the results of the Uruguay Round, technical modifications or rectifications to the schedules, as well as renegotiations under GATT Article XXVIII. Some background information on these issues has been provided for ease of reference.

The table consists of the following columns:

    Column 1:    Lists the WTO Members in alphabetical order. It also indicates whether or not the Member is a party to the Harmonized System Convention.

    Column 2:    Indicates the Roman numeral assigned to the Member’s schedule. Its equivalent Arabic numeral is included in parenthesis for ease of reference.

    Column 3:    Indicates the situation of the Pre-Uruguay Round schedule, if any.

    Column 4:    Indicates whether the schedule is annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol or to a Protocol of Accession. The date of accession and references to the relevant documentation is included for the latter.

    Column 5:    Provides information on the transposition of Uruguay Round schedules into the Harmonized System and its subsequent amendments. In the case of Members having acceded after 1 January 1995, it also indicates the tariff nomenclature used in the schedule annexed to its protocol of accession.

    Column 6:    Provides information on the rectifications/modifications requested by the Member, if any.

    Column 7:    Provides information on the renegotiations under GATT Article XXVIII initiated by the Member, if any.

II.    The Harmonized System and its amendments    back to top

A.    Introduction of the Harmonized System

    Following the entry into force of the Harmonized System(6) (HS) on 1 January 1988 (HS88), the pre-UR schedules of those GATT Contracting Parties which were also contracting parties to the HS Convention were required to be transposed into the HS nomenclature.(7) The GATT Committee on Tariff Concessions developed procedures for this purpose.(8) A number of schedules were transposed, certified and annexed to Protocols.(9) Some Members undertook to renegotiate their schedules in connection with the implementation of the HS. The situation regarding pre-UR schedules is set out in column 3 of the table. The term “None” is used for those Members that had no GATT schedule of concessions. It should, however, be noted that these Members did submit a schedule either during the Uruguay Round or at the time of their accession.

    The Harmonized System Committee of the World Customs Organization (WCO) undertakes a periodic review of the HS to take account of changes in technology and patterns in international trade, and recommends amendments to it. The first set of such modifications came into force on 1 January 1992 (HS92). A second, more substantial, set of amendments came into force on 1 January 1996 (HS96), and a third one on 1 January 2002 (HS2002). The most recent amendment entered into force on 1 January 2007 (HS2007).(10)
  

B.    First amendment to the HS (HS92)

    With a view to keeping the authentic texts of GATT schedules up to date and in conformity with the national customs tariff, the Committee on Tariff Concessions adopted in 1991 simplified procedures to implement the HS92 and any future changes relating to the HS.(11) Eleven GATT Contracting Parties followed these procedures and submitted the required documentation, with only one of them still remaining.(12)
  

C.    Second amendment to the HS (HS96)

    Members made use of the 1991 procedures for introducing modifications to the schedules resulting from the introduction of HS96. A total of 49 Members submitted the required HS96 documentation, out of which: 29 were full loose-leaf schedules(13), 19 reflected only the HS96 changes and 1 included information on a preliminary basis.(14) The General Council adopted, subject to certain conditions, a “collective waiver” suspending the application of GATT Article II for 19 Members.(15) This initial waiver was renewed on ten occasions and covered a varying number of Members.(16) The General Council noted at its last renewal that, although it would be the last time that an extension of the HS96 waiver would be granted collectively, Members were not precluded from requesting the suspension of GATT Article II on an individual basis.(17) Since then, the General Council has adopted 46 individual waiver requests from 13 Members.(18)
  

D.    Third amendment to the HS (HS2002)

    The General Council established on 18 July 2001 a set of new procedures for the introduction of HS2002 changes into the schedules of concessions.(19) Although HS2002 was implemented by most WTO Members, only 35 of them submitted the documentation required by the procedures.(20) With a view to further facilitating and simplifying the introduction of HS2002 changes in the schedules of concessions of all Members, the General Council adopted on 15 February 2005 a set of amendments to the procedures in which the Consolidated Tariff Schedule (CTS) database was to be used as a working tool. Furthermore, the Secretariat was instructed to transpose the schedules of all developing countries.(21) Although the Secretariat has concluded the technical work on most of these schedules, there are several files which remain pending due to the lack of approval or comments by the Member concerned.(22) Modifications to the schedules of 28 Members have been circulated pursuant the 1980 procedures for rectification and modification of schedules, and 26 of them have been certified.

    The General Council has adopted seven “collective waivers” and one individual waiver suspending the application of GATT Article II(23) on an annual basis until 31 December 2008. The latest applies to 20 Members (counting the EC-27 as one).(24) The General Council established, in addition, a set of procedures that would need to be followed by any other Member wishing to be covered by the waiver.(25)
  

E.    Fourth amendment to the HS (HS2007)

    The General Council adopted on 15 December 2006 new procedures for the introduction of HS2007 changes into schedules of concessions.(26) It also adopted two “collective waivers” suspending the application of GATT Article II on an annual basis until 31 December 2008.(27) The first waiver also provided that any other Member could be included upon request, and three Members have made use of this provision.(28) There are currently 25 Members (counting the EC-27 as one) covered by the second waiver.(29)
  

F.    Status of HS transpositions

    The status of HS92 changes and the introduction of the HS are included in Column 3 of the table as it relates to pre-UR schedules. Column 5 reflects the situation of HS96, HS2002 and HS2007 changes. This column also indicates, for those transposition procedures which remain pending, whether or not the Member is currently under a waiver suspending the application of GATT Article II.
  

III.    Rectifications/Modifications of schedules  back to top

    Following the Uruguay Round, a number of WTO Members submitted rectifications and modifications to their UR schedules. The procedures for the rectifications/modifications of schedules were adopted by the GATT Contracting Parties on 26 March 1980.(30) Modifications made pursuant to these procedures have included, inter alia: (i) modifications of a technical nature; (ii) concessions made in the context of the Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA)(31); (iii) revisions and additions to the product coverage of the Pharmaceutical Understanding (Pharma)(32); (iv) bilateral sectoral negotiations (e.g. distilled spirits); (v) modifications pursuant to Annex 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture; and (vi) autonomous improvements in concessions.

    Column 6 reflects the situation concerning the rectifications and modifications of schedules. Those pertaining to the ITA, the Pharma, ODCs, Annex 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture, and the results of bilateral negotiations on distilled spirits have been expressly identified. All others have been referred to as “other”. Some 163 proposals for modifications/rectifications that have been put forward for the consideration of members, 26 of which have been formally concluded by means of a Procès-Verbal of rectification 125 through a certification.(33) There are approximately 13 procedures which have not concluded for various reasons (reservations, domestic approval procedures, etc.) or have not been pursued further by the Member concerned.(34)
  

IV.    Renegotiations under GATT Article XXVIII    back to top

    Members are allowed to modify or withdraw concessions from their schedule through negotiation and agreement with other Members. Article XXVIII entitled “Modification of Schedules” is the main GATT 1994 provision dealing with the renegotiation of a tariff concession.(35)

    A 1957 note by the GATT Secretariat, concerning arrangements for negotiations under Article XXVIII, set out the procedural guidelines that were used until November 1980 when the current guidelines for procedures were adopted.(36) Although the early practice makes it difficult to determine the exact number of renegotiations that took place under the GATT, the Secretariat's records show that at least 42 GATT Contracting Parties initiated roughly 300 renegotiations between 1951 and 1994.(37)

    The 1980 procedures provide for a Member undertaking GATT Article XXVIII negotiations to submit to the Secretariat: (i) a report and a joint letter upon completion of each bilateral negotiation and (ii) a final report upon completion of all its bilateral negotiations. In practice, however, only 19 final reports were received by the Secretariat for the 79 renegotiations initiated between 1981 and 1994.(38) The status recorded by the Secretariat for renegotiations lacking a final report is diverse. While in a few cases the Contracting Parties withdrew the invocation of Article XXVIII, in others they only submitted partial information regarding the bilateral agreements reached. No further information has been received by the Secretariat after the initiation of these renegotiations and only a few of them were formally carried-over into the WTO.

    It remains unclear for the majority of these Pre-UR renegotiations whether they were: (i) concluded with the relevant Contracting Parties and their results incorporated into the Schedule annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the GATT 1994 (MP) during the Uruguay Round, (ii) concluded, but its results overridden by the Schedule annexed to the MP, (iii) concluded with all the relevant Contracting Parties, but never reported or included in a schedule, or (iv) are still ongoing.

    There have been 34 requests to enter into renegotiations under GATT Article XXVIII since the establishment of the WTO in 1995, 4 of which have been withdrawn, 8 have been concluded and formally certified, and 5 have been concluded but have not been certified for various reasons. Although the remaining 17 are in principle still ongoing, it should be noted that 2 of them relate to schedules which were withdrawn in the context of an enlargement of the European Communities (i.e. Hungary and Bulgaria).

    Column 7 reflects the status recorded by the Secretariat for all renegotiations invoked from 1 January 1981 when the current procedures started being implemented. The table also includes renegotiations related to GATT Article XXIV:6. The term “unclear” has been used for all those GATT renegotiations initiated between 1981 and 1994 in which there is no final report or any other formal document indicating the conclusion of such negotiations. It should finally be noted that 19 Article XXVIII renegotiations invoked before the end of the UR by the EEC-9 and some of the EC-15 member states are not reflected therein.(39)

V.    Current situation of schedules  back to top

These part needs to be in line with the proposal to be made to the Committee

    Members are at very different stages with respect to their schedules. Some Members currently applying the HS, and even HS2007, still have pre-UR concessions which are scheduled in a different nomenclature. In these cases, and in order to ensure consistency between the customs tariff which is being applied in practice and its schedule of concessions, the Member needs to transpose its schedule into the HS. Some Members have pre-UR schedules which have already been transposed into the HS, but only into the 1988 or 1992 versions, and not into the one currently being applied. Other Members have their HS2002 changes certified, but not their HS96 changes. The transposition of CTS files into HS2002 and HS2007 by the Secretariat could be an opportunity for Members to bring up to date their obligations in this area. Finally, it would also be advisable for Members to clarify the status of those Pre-UR GATT Article XXVIII renegotiations for those cases in which the status remains unclear.

Annex   back to top

Situation of Schedules of Concessions in Goods