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1500 GENEVA TIME ( 1300 GMT ) 8 NOVEMBER 2002
PRESS/TPRB/206
8 November 2002
(02-6141)
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: JAPAN
Structural reforms needed to achieve sustainable recovery
A report on the trade policies and practices of Japan, published November 8 by the WTO
Secretariat, says that there are tentative signs of  moderate recovery in the Japanese economy but
sustained recovery hinges on structural reforms, including Japan’s further liberalization of its tradeand investment regime.
The report also says that since the last review in 2000 the economic situation has hardly improved
against the background of a fragile banking syst em, high public debt approaching 140% of GDP,
and the high level of unemployment. In this period, the main source of growth has been external
demand.
A WTO report, along with the policy statement of the Government of Japan, will serve as a basis
for the sixth Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Japan by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 6and 8 November 2002.
The following documents are available in MS Word format on the WTO website. They can be
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp206_e.htm
• Secretariat report
> Contents and summary observations
> Economic environment
> Trade policy regime: framework and objectives> Trade policies and practices by measure
> Trade policies by sector
> Appendix tables
• Government report
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks
• Minutes of the meeting (available approximately 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 which may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. ForPRESS/TPRB/206
Page 2 of 2
each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member
under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These twodocuments 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 athttps://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:
Venezuela : 27, 29 Nov. 2002
Hong Kong, China : 16, 18 Dec 2002
For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tpr_e.htm#reviews
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews
END