Notifications

Since the last Committee meeting in October 2021, the WTO Secretariat had received a total of 71 notifications under various provisions of the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures, 69 of which were listed for the consideration of the Committee.

Regarding the Annual Questionnaire for 2021, the chair of the Committee, Mr Hsin-lung Hung of Chinese Taipei, stressed that as of 8 April only 39 members had submitted their replies. The chair noted that transparency was one of the key pillars of the rules–based multilateral trading system and encouraged all members to submit their import licensing notifications.

He also reminded members that they are required to notify their import licensing regulations and changes to these regulations within 60 days of publication. In addition, all WTO members are required to submit their replies to the Annual Questionnaire by 30 September.

The delegate of Ukraine noted that his government was doing everything possible under the present conditions to ensure that businesses could continue to operate uninterrupted, including by obtaining import licences through electronic means. Many members took the floor to express their strong opposition to the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegate responded by saying that the WTO was not the proper venue for a discussion of a political nature.

Transparency work

The chair shared with members a report highlighting progress made on transparency as well as the information sharing work of the WTO Secretariat. He noted that the e-agenda project, which aims at facilitating the work of delegations in preparing the Committee's agenda and making relevant documents available in electronic form, was a priority.

The objective is to launch the e-agenda by the next formal Committee meeting in October 2022. Some delegations highlighted the value of the e-agenda, which had already been implemented by other committees, and encouraged the Secretariat to ensure its launch as soon as possible.

Members supported the digitalization of notification procedures through an online form that would be entirely based on the existing notification template contained in document G/LIC/28. The form would allow members to notify import licensing legislation to the WTO on a voluntary basis. It would not eliminate the issuance of N1 and N2 notifications, which refer to members' laws and regulations on import licensing and changes in import licensing procedures, respectively.

Import licensing notification workshop

Following previous experiences in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, members expressed their support for holding a workshop on import licensing and notifications for all delegations which, for the first time, would take place in the three WTO official languages (English, French and Spanish).

The purpose of the workshop is to enhance participants' understanding of import licensing procedures and notifications and to train them in fulfilling the different types of notification requirements under the Agreement.

Specific trade concerns

Members asked questions and expressed concerns about some members’ import licensing regimes for specific products, including:

• Angola's import licensing requirements, raised by the European Union
• China's changes to import licensing for certain recoverable materials, raised by the United States
• Egypt's import licensing requirements for certain agricultural and processed products, raised by the European Union
• India's importation of pneumatic tyres, raised by the European Union, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand
• Indonesia's compulsory registration by importers of steel products, raised by Japan
• Indonesia's import licensing regime for certain textile products, raised by the European Union and Japan
• Indonesia's import restriction on air conditioners, raised by the European Union and Japan
• India's quantitative restrictions on certain pulses, raised by Canada
• Thailand's importation of feed wheat, raised by the European Union

Next meeting

The next formal meeting of the Committee is tentatively scheduled for 7 October.