The Twenty-third Meeting of the Negotiating Group on Market Access (NGMA) was held in Panama City, Panama from December 9 to 12, 2002. Mr. Felipe Jaramillo of Colombia chaired the meeting. The Vice-chair is Mr. Manuel Diaz of the Dominican Republic. In attendance were delegates of the following countries: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The Tripartite Committee provided technical support to the meeting.

The NGMA agreed on an agenda, which is attached hereto. All the items on the agenda were satisfactorily covered.

The Group analyzed the results of the Quito Ministerial Meeting and its implications for its work. Afterwards the Group designed a work program taking into accounts the new Ministerial mandates. The Group also agreed on a work calendar for the Ad-Hoc Group on Rules of Origin for 2003. The Tripartite Committee reported that all of the counties that had to report their base tariff by October 15 had notified on time. The Tripartite Committee also reported on the most recent submissions to the Hemispheric Database, and on the recent round of regional seminars regarding the Toolkit for Negotiators.

The Group achieved notable progress on the issues accumulation of origin, wholly obtained products, and value tests. The issue of origin-related procedures was also discussed. Finally, the Group also discussed different approaches to the treatment of non-tariff measures.

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 February 17-21, 2003.

1. Approval of the Agenda

2. General issues

3. Results of the Quito Ministerial

4. Organization of future work

5. Origin regime

• Accumulation
• Wholly obtained goods
• Value test

6. [Customs] procedures related to the origin regime

• Certificates/certification
• Who certifies

7. Non-tariff measures

8. Agenda for the next meeting

9. Other matters