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PRESS/TPRB/238 
27 October 2004 
 
(04-4543) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
A generally open trade regi me, but further agriculture 
liberalization would promote world trade  
The European Communities (EC) has a generally liberal regime for non-agricultural products and 
has granted market access to developing countries  under its Generalized System of Preferences 
(GSP) scheme or the Cotonu Agreement, and to LDCs under the “everything but arms” (EBA) 
initiative, according to a report on the trade policies and practices of the EC released by the WTO 
Secretariat.  
However, further liberalization of the EC’s agriculture, notably through simplification of its tariff 
structure and reduction of duty rates, as well as the downsizing of the levels of support, would substantially contribute to the promotion of world trade.  
 
The report notes that despite the continued decoupling of payments from production, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) falls short of liberalizing EC’s agriculture. Moreover, the 
report identifies certain areas where further harmonization within the EC may be needed; these 
include internal tax rates, some services, and customs procedures.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the European Communities will be the basis for 
the Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the EC by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 25 and 27 
October 2004. 
 
The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp238.htm  
 
• Secretariat report 
> Contents and summary observations  
> Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  > Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  
• Government report  
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  PRESS/TPRB/238 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 • Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents 
are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 
Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews   
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly 
Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States  
Next reviews: 
Brazil : 29 November and 1 December 2004 
Switzerland/Liechtenstein : 15 and 17 December 2004 
Jamaica : 17 and 19 January 2005 
  
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews 
 
 
END 