WTO Members Welcome Ongoing Efforts to
Monitor Trade-Related Measures during COVID-19 Crisis
At the formal meeting of the Committee on Market Access on 29-30
April, WTO members underlined the ongoing efforts to promote greater transparency
in the communication and notification of trade measures related to COVID-19. Members
also heard a presentation by the World Customs Organization (WCO) on the new amendments
to the Harmonized System (HS) that will enter into force next year and addressed
a high number of specific trade concerns.
Members
welcomed a new summary report (G/MA/W/168 and
G/MA/W/168/Corr.1) prepared
by the WTO Secretariat on export restrictions and trade-facilitating measures relating
to the COVID-19 pandemic which were notified by members. The full list of the notifications
and communications that have been submitted by members as of 15 April 2021 is contained
in document G/MA/W/157/Rev.2.
The report
indicates that 48 measures that prohibit or restrict exports as a result of COVID-19
have been notified by 29 members (56 counting the EU member states individually)
under the 2012 Decision on Notification
Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions (QR Decision). Additional
information compiled by the WTO Secretariat in the context of the Trade Monitoring Report suggests
that 10 additional members and several non-WTO members have also introduced similar
export-restricting measures in response to the pandemic, which have not yet been
notified under the QR Decision. The Committee tasked the Secretariat to update its
report by taking into account information provided in the context of the Trade Monitoring
Report.
The majority
of the export-restrictive measures introduced by members took the form of non-automatic
export licensing schemes (38.5%), followed by full bans or prohibitions on exports
(34.6%) and conditional prohibitions (25%). An overwhelming majority of the export-prohibiting
and restricting measures notified were introduced between February and April 2020
(40 out of 48 measures). This period coincides with the declaration of a pandemic
by the World Health Organization and the lockdowns and other health measures in
response to COVID-19.
Regarding
products covered, the majority of the notified measures prohibited or restricted
the exportation of personal protective equipment (PPEs), which includes face and
eye protection devices (26 measures), protective garments (19 measures) and gloves
(19 measures). Other restricted products included sanitizers and disinfectants including
alcohol (15 measures), pharmaceutical products (14 measures), different types of medical supplies (13 measures), medical equipment
including mechanical respirators (11 measures) and other products.
The chair,
Anatoly Chaplin of the Russian Federation, noted that only 10 members have notified
the termination of their export prohibitions or restrictions (Australia, Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Egypt, the European Union, Moldova, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, Viet Nam) and that many other members have not done so yet. Given
the importance of transparency, he urged members to notify any change as quickly
as possible.
The second
part of the Secretariat report summarized the measures that have been implemented
by members to facilitate trade, most of which relate to the exemption or elimination
of tariffs and other taxes on essential products to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
They also include several measures that simplified customs procedures.
These
measures are contained in communications that have been submitted by members to
the Committee for transparency, despite the fact that there is no notification obligation
to do so. One of these was a new communication submitted by Australia with unilateral
measures that aim at facilitating trade for essential products to combat the COVID-19
pandemic (G/MA/W/165), which was reviewed
at the meeting.
A presentation
was given by a representative of the WCO describing the main changes to be expected
by the entry into force on 1 January 2022 of the 7th edition of the
Harmonized System (HS) — the so-called HS2022 — under the Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding
System.
The HS
is an international nomenclature developed by the WCO, which is arranged in six-digit
codes allowing all participating countries to classify traded goods on a common
basis. Normally amended by the WCO every four to six years, the HS is used by members
in their schedules of concessions and in the definitions of product coverage for
a number of WTO agreements.
The WCO
informed members that currently the HS is used in 211 economies (of which 160 are
contracting parties to the HS Convention). The new edition introduces some major
changes to the Harmonized System with a total of 351 sets of amendments covering
a wide range of goods moving across borders. In comparison, the 2017 edition contained
233 sets of amendments.
The changes
introduced in HS2022 include the recognition of new groups of products that were
not previously visible in the classification and the clarification of changes to
reinforce the correct classification of certain products. The objective is to address
changing trade patterns through the recognition of high-profile or new product streams
as well as environmental and social issues of global concern, such as health and
safety, protection of society and the fight against illicit trade and terrorism.
New categories
were created to classify a wide range of products, including electrical and electronic
waste (e-waste), novel tobacco and nicotine-based products, unmanned aerial vehicles
(drones), smartphones, glass fibres, placebos and clinical
trial kits for medical research, radioactive materials and biological safety cabinets
as well as for items required for the construction of improvised explosive devices.
Members
welcomed the Secretariat's initiative to organize in mid-June a second feedback
session on the WTO's publications and online tools to disseminate tariff and import
data. Following the successful session in July 2019, members will be asked to provide
feedback on the different data dissemination and online data tools related to the
WTO's Integrated Database (IDB) and
the Consolidated Tariff Schedules
Database (CTS) as well as new databases such as the Goods Schedules E-Library and
the QR Database. The Secretariat will report
on the steps taken to respond to members' feedback and its future plans.
The IDB
is the only database based on official data supplied by members on tariffs and import
data. It contains data supplied annually on the tariffs members apply on a non-discriminatory
basis in line with the most-favoured nation (MFN) principle
as well as their annual imports by tariff line and country of origin. Data on preferential
duties under free trade agreements (FTAs) and/or preferential schemes for developing
countries are available for some members.
Following
the adoption of the new IDB Decision in 2019 (G/MA/367), the number of notifications
has increased significantly. It was pointed out that members now have the possibility
to come to an agreement with the WTO Secretariat for the automatic transmission
of their tariff and import data, which would simplify their notification procedures
and provide access to up-to-date data.
The CTS
contains in a standardized format all WTO members' commitments on the tariffs they
will apply to imports from other members. The database has been established as a
working tool only, without any implications regarding the legal status of the information
contained in the database. Members welcomed the project by the Secretariat to make
CTS files available in MS Excel, which would simply their access and consultation.
Members
stressed the importance of continuously improving the functionality of the WTO data
dissemination and online tools and the key role the Secretariat plays to address
the needs of members and to identify areas for improvement.
For the
first time, the Committee used the e-Agenda system for the preparation of its formal
meeting. This was preceded by a mock session where members provided inputs which
helped refine the system. The e-Agenda is still at an early stage and members will
have another opportunity to provide feedback aimed at improving the system at the
next informal meeting of the Committee, scheduled to take place on 26 May. Ahead
of that meeting, members were invited to elaborate on their views on how the system
works and whether adjustments or other actions would be required.
The Committee
addressed over 20 trade concerns, new and previously raised, including:
·
Angola's import-restricting measures, raised
by the United States;
·
China's customs duties on certain
integrated circuits, raised by the EU, Japan and Chinese Taipei;
·
China's trade-disruptive and
restrictive measures, raised by Australia;
·
The European Union's carbon border
adjustment mechanism, raised by Armenia, the Kingdom of Bahrain,
China, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Qatar, the Russian Federation and the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia;
·
The European's Union vaccine
export transparency mechanism, raised by Australia;
·
India's customs duties on telecommunication
and other products, raised by China;
·
India's import policies on tyres, raised by the European Union;
·
India's restrictions on air conditioners,
raised by Japan;
·
India's quantitative restrictions
on certain pulses, raised by Australia, Canada, the EU, the
Russian Federation and the United States;
·
Indonesia's customs duties on
telecommunication products, raised by the United States;
·
Indonesia's restrictions on air
conditioners, raised by Japan;
·
Mexico's import quota on glyphosate,
raised by the United States;
·
Mongolia's quantitative restrictions
on the importation of certain agricultural products, raised
by the Russian Federation;
·
Nepal's imports ban on energy
drinks, raised by Thailand;
·
Russia's export prohibition on
timber products, raised by the EU;
·
Russia's track and trace regime, raised
by the United States;
·
The selective tax on certain
imported products, raised by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United
Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar, raised by the EU, Switzerland and the United States;
·
Sri Lanka's import ban on various
products, raised by the EU;
·
Sri Lanka's import ban on palm
oil, raised by Indonesia;
·
The United Kingdom's renegotiation
of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) under Article XXVIII of the GATT 1994, raised
by the Russian Federation;
·
The United Kingdom's rectifications
and modifications of Schedule XIX, raised by the Russian Federation;
and
·
Egypt's manufacturer registration
system, raised by the Russian Federation.