RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG124/M/2 
7 April 2004  
 
(04-1574) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements 
Thirty-Sixth Session  
 
 
EXAMINATION OF THE FREE TRADE  AGREEMENT 
BETWEEN ISRAEL AND MEXICO 
 
Note on the Meeting of 30 March 2004  
 
Chairman Mr. S. Dalela (India) 
 1. The meeting was convened in document WTO/AIR/2276/Rev.1. 
2. Under Agenda Item C.VII of its Thirty-S ixth Session, the Committee on Regional Trade 
Agreements (hereinafter CRTA or the Committee) took up the second round of examination of the Free Trade Agreement between Israel and Mexico.   
3. The Chairman
 noted that the proceedings of the first round, which had taken place in the 
Thirty-Fourth Session of the Committee in  April 2003, could be  found in document 
WT/REG/124/M/1.  Since then, the Parties had pr ovided replies to questions put by delegations, 
which had been circulated in document WT/REG124/4.  Given that the Committee had already had a round of examination with discussion under each of the detailed headings of  the Standard Format 
contained in document WT/REG124/3, he proposed to  open the floor for comments and questions by 
broad section. 
4. The representative of Chinese Taipei
 said he had checked the record and had found that 
Mexico had initiated a safeguard investigation on pl ywood in 2002; he wondered if the representative 
of Mexico could advise whether the parties to  Mexico's RTAs had been exempted from the 
application of this global safeguard measure and if  the implementation of this measure was consistent 
with WTO rules. 
5. The representative of the United States  thanked the parties for providing a list of products on 
which tariff quotas were imposed.  In relation to  Section II.1 (Import Restrictions, Duties and 
Charges) of the Standard Format, she wondered if the Agreement provided for the elimination of out-
of-quota duties and if the Parties could provide a lis t of the tariff lines which had been excluded from 
the Agreement.  
6. The representative of Mexico  agreed to provide a written response to the questions from the 
delegations of Chinese Taipei and the United States 
7. The Chairman  said that the second round of examination of the Free Trade Agreement 
between Israel and Mexico had allowed the Comm ittee to clarify a number of issues, but some 
outstanding questions remained.  He requested de legations to forward outstanding questions to the 
Secretariat by 16 April 2004 and that the Parties should provide written responses by 28 May 2004.  
He proposed that the Committee consider the factua l examination as completed.  Once the replies had 
been circulated, any request for additional informat ion could be dealt with without holding another 
round of formal examination and the Secretariat coul d begin drafting the report for this examination. 
8. The Committee took note  of the comments made. 
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