STATUS OF NOTIFICATIONS OF PREFERENTIAL RULES
OF ORIGIN
FOR LDCS AND PREFERENTIAL IMPORT DATA
Note by
the Secretariat[1]
Revision
1 Introduction
1.1. Paragraph 4.3 of the 2015 (Nairobi) Ministerial Decision on
preferential rules of origin for least developed countries (LDCs) reiterates
Members' commitment to notify their preferential rules of origin for LDCs as
well as data concerning their preferential imports from LDCs. This note
summarizes the legal requirements concerning such notifications and provides an
overview of the notifications submitted to date.
2 Notification of preferential rules of origin and preferential
imports
2.1. The following WTO instruments require Members to notify the
preferential rules of origin that they apply in the context of non-reciprocal
trade preferences for LDCs as well as their preferential tariffs and imports covered
by such preferences:
- Paragraph 4 of Annex II of the
Agreement on Rules of Origin requires Members to notify
"promptly" "to the Secretariat" any preferential rules of
origin. Notifications are circulated under the _G/RO/N/ document series and
are examined by the Committee on Rules of Origin (CRO);
- The
Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade Arrangements (_WT/L/806 of
14 December 2010) requires Members to provide detailed
and product-specific rules of origin "to the Secretariat". Annex 1 of
the Decision enumerates the specific information which should be submitted. The
Decision also requires Members to notify, at the tariff line level, import data
under their PTAs. Notifications of PTAs under the Transparency Mechanism are
circulated as documents of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD).
Notifications are considered by the CTD in Dedicated Session (CTD‑DS), on the
basis of a "factual presentation" prepared by the Secretariat. Only
PTAs notified after the adoption of the Decision in 2010 have been examined
under these procedures. In addition, a "guide" for each PTA is
prepared in consultation with the Member implementing the PTA, and is placed in
the Database on PTAs (http://ptadb.wto.org) after its approval
by the implementing Member. Annex 2 of document _G/MA/367 contains the format
that Members have agreed to be used in the preparation of their notifications
of tariffs and import data;
- The
2013 (Bali) Ministerial Decision on Preferential Rules of Origin for LDCs (_WT/L/917) and the 2015
(Nairobi) Decision (_WT/L/917/Add.1) reiterate these
obligations. In addition, the CRO
agreed on a template to be used by all WTO
preference-granting Members (_G/RO/84)
when notifying their preferential rules of origin. These notifications are
circulated under the _G/RO/LDC/N/ document series.
3 Status of notifications concerning Preferential Rules of Origin
3.1. The
following table enumerates, for each preference-granting Member, the latest information
available concerning preferential trade arrangements in
favour of LDCs, namely:
- The
references of the latest notifications submitted to the CTD describing the
coverage of preferential schemes, their date of entry into force, eligibility
criteria and list of beneficiary countries; and
- The
references of the latest notifications submitted to the CRO describing the
preferential rules of origin and origin requirements applicable to LDCs as
required under the notification template adopted by the Committee (_G/RO/84).
[1] This
document has been prepared under the Secretariat's own responsibility and is
without prejudice to the positions of Members or to their rights and
obligations under the WTO.