Committee on Market Access marks 30th anniversary amid trade tensions

30 years of the CMA

Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard spoke at an event prior to the start of the meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the CMA. Her remarks were followed by a panel discussion that included remarks from former chairs of the CMA.

"Market access is one of the cornerstones of the multilateral trading system, and it lies at the heart of what the WTO seeks to achieve: enabling trade to flow as smoothly, predictably and transparently as possible through agreed rules," DDG Ellard said.

"This is why the work of the Committee on Market Access is not merely technical; it is foundational to the integrity and effectiveness of the entire WTO framework," she continued. "Even amid widespread uncertainty these days surrounding tariff levels, this Committee provides stability for governments and traders on a wide variety of nuts-and-bolts issues, such as tariff classification, trade restrictions, and information sharing through databases and other means by operationalizing a durable system of rules and a mechanism to address concerns."

Achievements of the CMA include enabling members to make their commitments more accessible and ensuring the legal clarity and comparability of concessions across time and among members through the transposition of commitments into updated versions of the Harmonized System used to classify traded goods. Other achievements include strengthening the transparency around applied tariffs and import data through initiatives such as the Integrated Database and, more recently, the new Tariff and Trade Data platform.

Linked with this event, a special exhibition was set up at the WTO headquarters to mark the 30th anniversary.  The exhibition highlights key historical milestones of the Committee’s work. In particular, it looks at how technology has shaped the preparation of members' goods schedules, the development of trade and tariff databases, and the broader work of the WTO Secretariat in making trade information accessible to WTO members and the public.

Joint work on Harmonized System codes for vaccines

The interim Chair of the CMA, Nicola Waterfield (Canada), welcomed the progress made in the joint effort by the World Customs Organization (WCO), World Health Organization (WHO) and the WTO to establish new tariff headings for vaccines under the Harmonized System (HS). 

"The new HS codes, which will be adopted by the WCO Council in June for implementation on 1 January 2028, help better identify and classify goods vital for responding to health crises and support coherence between trade policies and public health objectives, including ensuring global equitable access to vaccines," the Chair said.

Gael Grooby, Acting Director of the Tariff and Trade Affairs Directorate of the WCO, said the aim of the exercise is to make the covered goods more visible within trade so that they can be tracked and appropriate measures put into place as needed. She emphasized that the work between the CMA and the WCO on this matter "has been unprecedented".

The Chair proposed that the CMA invite representatives from the three organizations to discuss the insights gained from this experience and to collectively reflect on the key elements that facilitated such a successful example of collaboration.

Committee report on supply chain resilience

The CMA adopted a report on supply chain resilience, the outcome of a series of thematic sessions on the topic held between 2023 and 2025. Specifically, the report defines supply chain resilience, identifies supply chain vulnerabilities, and describes how members measure and monitor global supply chains and what measures support supply chain resilience. The report also examines the role of international and regional cooperation, and the role of the CMA.  

The Chair observed that the CMA has created a unique approach to thematic sessions, where members have a space to exchange information, learn from each other and produce concrete results that can be used for future reference.

Trade fragmentation, EU deforestation regulation

Canada, the European Union and Norway introduced an agenda item addressing fragmentation of global trade through tariffs and the associated global costs. They voiced concerns about the impact of recent tariff measures and the resulting uncertainty on global trade for businesses, consumers and workers. They also underlined the importance of the rules-based multilateral trading system. Ten other members took the floor on this item, with most echoing these concerns. Several also underlined the importance of WTO reform and improvement of its functions so that it remains a central pillar of the global trading system.

Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru introduced a joint communication regarding the European Union's Regulation on Deforestation-Free Supply Chains (EUDR). The four members contend the regulation is a quantitative restriction (QR) on imports and therefore should be notified to the CMA as such. They reiterated their belief that the regulation imposes cumbersome obligations and will virtually ban from the EU market the importation of beef, wood, palm oil, soya, coffee, cocoa and rubber that do not comply with the regulation's requirements.  The EU said the EUDR is not a market access measure but rather an internal regulation measure designed in line with WTO rules.

Trade concerns

Members discussed 33 trade concerns, eight of which were raised for the first time. New concerns dealt with exports of coffee beans and macadamia nuts to China, proposed export restrictions on raw minerals by the Philippines and measures equivalent to quantitative restrictions on the import of wooden boards and viscose staple fibre in India.  Other new concerns covered market access issues for agricultural commodities and food products as well as market access issues faced by the pharmaceutical sector in Thailand, and import restrictions on pocket lighters in India.

New concerns were also raised in relation to reciprocal tariffs and other tariff measures in the United States and the treatment of like products under the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) concluded by Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand and Switzerland.

The list of specific trade concerns discussed during the meeting is available here.

Notifications on quantitative restrictions

The interim Chair drew members' attention to a new WTO Secretariat report, "Notification Status of Regular/Period and One-Time Only Notifications in the Goods Area (1995-2024)" (G/C/W/859 ). While the document found that there has been an overall submission rate of 68.9% for regular or periodic notifications, compliance with quantitative restrictions notifications, pursuant to the 2012 Decision  on Notification Procedure for Quantitative Restrictions, was the lowest at just over 26%.

The Chair said she was aware that various initiatives have been undertaken over time by members and the WTO Secretariat to improve the overall compliance record but members still struggle to comply with certain notification requirements. As a result, she invited members to consider what barriers impact compliance and what possible steps could be taken to improve the submission rate and the quality of such notifications. The Committee agreed to hold such discussions at its next informal meeting scheduled in June.

Next meeting

The next formal meeting of the Committee on Market Access will take place on 15-16 October.

Share