Progress Report of the Committee on Rules of Origin to the Council for Trade in Goods on the Status of the Harmonization Work Programme

World Trade Organization G/RO/38 2 July 1999 (99-2734) Committee on Rules of Origin PROGRESS REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RULES OF ORIGIN TO THE COUNCIL FOR TRADE IN GOODS ON THE STATUS OF THE HARMONIZATION WORK PROGRAMME 1. One of the main objectives of the Agreement on Rules of Origin is to harmonize nonpreferential rules of origin, as envisaged under Article 9 in Part IV of the Agreement. The Harmonization Work Programme (HWP), which was launched on 20 July 1995, was scheduled for completion, pursuant to Article 9.2(a) of the Agreement, within three years of its initiation, i.e. by 20 July 1998. However, while the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO) and the Technical Committee on Rules of Origin in Brussels (TCRO) – the body responsible for the technical aspects of the work - made substantial progress in the HWP during this three-year period, the work, due to the complexity of issues, has not been completed as scheduled. While recognizing that the CRO w