. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TMB/R/73
15 March 2001
(01-1292)
Textiles Monitoring Body
REPORT OF THE SEVENTY-FOURTH MEETING
1. The Textiles Monitoring Body held its seventy-fourth meeting on 12 February 2001.
2. Present at this meeting were the following members and/or alternates: Messrs. Babajide;
Bernabe; Fox-Drummond Gough/Ugarriza/Rosas; Kiener/Karapinar; Kumar; Leung/Ahn; Moriya;
Moroz; Nayyar; Tagliani.
3. The TMB adopted the report of its seventy-third meeting (G/TMB/R/72).
Notification under Article 2.1 of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC)
4. The TMB started its examination of a notification made by the United States, pursuant to the
provisions of Oman’s Protocol of Accession to the WTO, of the quantitative restrictions applied by
the United States on imports of textile and clothing products originating in Oman in force on the day
prior to Oman’s accession to the WTO.
Notifications under Articles 2.8(b) and 2.11 of the ATC
5. The TMB reviewed under Article 2.21 the notifications made, pursuant to Articles 2.8(b) and
2.11 by Brazil (G/TMB/N/369 and Add.1), Co lombia (G/TMB/N/366/Rev.1), Pakistan
(G/TMB/N/384), Panama (G /TMB/N/379), Romania (G/T MB/N/372/Rev.1), Slovenia
(G/TMB/N/362, Corr.1 and Add.1) and Switzerla nd (G/TMB/N/367/Rev.1) .  With respect to
Pakistan, the TMB noted that Pakistan had decided to integrate the entire textiles sector as part of the
Stage 3 integration and that it had notified, accordingly, that the whole of the textiles and clothing
sector shall henceforth be governed by GATT 1994 rules.  The TMB commended Pakistan for this
decision. With respect to the other Members, the TMB noted that, in accordance with Article 2.8(b)
the volume of the products integrated amounted to the following percentages of 1990 imports of the
products falling under the coverage of the Agreement (unless otherwise specified): Brazil
(18.01  per cent), Colombia (19.06 per cent), Panama (30.62 per cent), Romania (18.47 per cent of thevalue of 1990 imports of textiles and clothing), Slovenia (20.54 per cent of the volume of 1992
imports) and Switzerland (18.03 per cent).  The TMB also noted that in each notification, in
accordance with Article 2.8(b), the products integrated included products from each of the four
groups: tops and yarns, fabrics, made-up textile products and clothing.  With respect to Colombia, the
TMB observed that this was the case in spite of the fact that two of the products integrated had notbeen classified, in the view of the Body, in th e appropriate product group.  With regard to those
notifications mentioned above, for which the calculation of the share of the products integrated had
been made on the basis of a different base year, other than 1990, or on value instead of volume, the
TMB ensured that no better data were available and that the Members concerned had followed the
same approach as for the notifications they had made pursuant to Articles 2.6 and 2.7(b), as well as2.8(a) and 2.11.
6. The TMB continued its review under Article 2.21 of the notifications made pursuant to
Articles 2.8(b) and 2.11 by the European Communities and the United States.  It started to examineG/TMB/R/73
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the clarification and explanations received from those Members and decided to revert to its review at
a subsequent meeting.
7. The TMB started its review, in accordance with Article 2.21, of the notifications received
under Articles 2.8(b) and 2.11 from the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia and
Uruguay.  It decided to seek information or clar ification from them with respect to issues, where
applicable, such as (i) whether some of the products scheduled to be integrated fell under the coverage
of the ATC, (ii) whether some of the products included in the respective programmes had already
been integrated in Stages 1 or 2, (iii) whether the programmes notified met the requirements of
Article 2.8(b) in terms of the percentage of the Member’s 1990 imports of the products in the Annex
to the ATC to be integrated, (iv) whether products from each of the four groups specified in
Article 2.8(b) (tops and yarns, fabrics, made-up textile products and clothing) were included in the
respective integration programmes and (v) whether in respect of products belonging to HS lines in theAnnex to the ATC for which only part of the respective line falls under the coverage of the
Agreement ("ex-HS lines"), the imports that had been counted corresponded precisely to the product
description contained in the ATC Annex for the respective line, with information on the manner in
which the relevant Member had ensured that this was the case.   The TMB decided to revert to its
review of these notifications at a subsequent meeting, inter alia , on the basis of the information and
clarification to be received from the Members concerned.
Notification under Article 2.17 of the ATC
8. The TMB started its review, pursuant to Article 2.21, of administrative arrangements agreed
between the United States and Oman, notified by the United States pursuant to Article 2.17.  The
TMB decided to continue its review at its subsequent meeting.
Preparation for the TMB’s 2001 Comprehensive Report pursuant to Article 8.11
9. The TMB decided to remind WTO Members of some of the notification requirements
contained in the ATC, regarding which only a few or no notifications had been received, and also to
seek additional information and comments from the Members which they consider relevant in the
context of the TMB’s preparation of its comprehensive report (G/TMB/24).
Observations with Respect to Late Notifications
10. With respect to notifications addressed to the TMB after the relevant deadlines, the TMB
reiterated that its taking note of late notifications was without prejudice to the legal status of such
notifications.
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