The Twentieth Meeting of the Negotiating Group on Market Access (NGMA) was held in Panama City, Panama from 1 to 5 July 2002. In attendance were delegates of the following countries: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The NGMA agreed on an agenda, which is attached to this press communiqué. All the items on the agenda were covered.

In accordance with the instructions given to the NGMA by the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) and the Ministers Responsible for Trade, the work of the Group centered on drafting new text for the chapters of the FTAA Agreement entrusted to this Group, in particular, Customs Procedures and Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade, as well as preparing recommendations for the TNC on methods for determining tariff concessions; general rules of origin, inter alia, de minimis and accumulation rules, including during the transition period; the organization of an ad hoc group for specific rules of origin; and organizational aspects of the tariff negotiations.

The Tripartite Committee reported to the Group on the status of, and inputs to, the Hemispheric Data Base (HDB) and informed that the information submitted will be compiled and incorporated into a new version of the HDB-PC CD-ROM, for distribution in the near future. The Committee also reported on subregional technical workshops that have been held on the Hemispheric Data Base System and the upcoming presentation of an HDB user’s manual. Furthermore, it informed the Group that subregional seminars are being held on rules of origin and issues related to tariff negotiations, some of which have already begun to be addressed in some of the subregions.

The Group acknowledged receipt of the civil society contributions forwarded by the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society to the NGMA. The delegations agreed to give all due attention to these contributions.

The Group’s next meeting will be held in Panama City from 29 July to 2 August 2002.

1. General issues

2. Tariffs

     • Methods for determining concessions
     • Organization of tariff negotiations

3. Rules of origin

     • Negotiation of general rules of origin, inter alia, the level of de minimis and the application
       of the principle of accumulation

4. Customs Procedures (Text)

5. Standards and Technical Barriers to Trade (Text)

6. Agenda for the next meeting

7. Other matters