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_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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U.S.-China Trade: Summary of 2003 World Trade Organization Transitional Review Mechanism for China. GAO-05-209R, January 25, 2005
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-209R
or
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05209r.pdf
[full-text, 101 pages]

[excerpt]
Summary
As seen in the enclosed tables, 11 out of a total of 148 WTO members participated in
the 2003 multilateral review of China’s trade commitment implementation. These
members participated in the TRM process by submitting written questions to China
prior to meetings of 16 WTO subsidiary bodies with a role in the Transitional Review
Mechanism (TRM), or by raising issues verbally with China during these meetings,
which occurred from September to December 2003. Specifically, 7 WTO members
both submitted written questions and discussed issues verbally in some TRM
meetings: the United States, the European Communities, Japan, Chinese Taipei,3
Australia, Canada, and Mexico. Four other members—Brazil, Korea, Norway, and
Pakistan—only participated verbally during some meetings. The United States was
the most active member in the 2003 TRM, participating one or both ways in 14 of the
16 subsidiary bodies; the exceptions were the Committees on Balance-of-Payments
Restrictions and Rules of Origin. Table 1 displays an overview of member
participation for the 2003 TRM.

[chart]

The number and scope of issues raised by WTO members during the 2003 TRM
process varied by WTO subsidiary body, as demonstrated in the enclosed tables.
Some committees addressed numerous issues. For example, the Council on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights covered various concerns, including
those related to how China treated semiconductor layout design, pharmaceutical
products, and consulting services. In contrast, only a few issues were brought up in
the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions. Chinese Taipei was the only
member to raise concerns to this committee, and these took the form of a few
specific questions, such as the rationale behind China’s regulation governing small
value trade between Chinese Taipei and China. In addition, the enclosed tables
reveal that some issues are broad in nature, while others are very technical and
specific....
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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                *
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