GAO's Electronic Database of China's World Trade Organization	 
Commitments (13-JUN-03, GAO-03-797R).				 
                                                                 
China's December 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization  
(WTO) signified that the world's seventh largest economy and the 
United State's fourth largest trading partner would be subject to
the multilateral organization's trade liberalizing requirements. 
China's accession agreement is a set of legal documents totaling 
more than 800 pages. In order to fulfill its WTO commitments,	 
China will have to undertake numerous actions over the next 10	 
years, ranging from reducing or eliminating tariffs to improving 
the transparency of trade-related rules and regulations. GAO	 
released its database of its analysis to assist Congress in	 
analyzing, monitoring, and enforcing China's WTO commitments.	 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-03-797R					        
    ACCNO:   A07166						        
  TITLE:     GAO's Electronic Database of China's World Trade	      
Organization Commitments					 
     DATE:   06/13/2003 
  SUBJECT:   International agreements				 
	     International economic relations			 
	     International organizations			 
	     International trade				 
	     International trade regulation			 
	     Data bases 					 
	     China						 

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GAO-03-797R

GAO- 03- 797R China- WTO Database

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

June 13, 2003 The Honorable Charles E. Grassley Chairman The Honorable Max
Baucus Ranking Minority Member Committee on Finance United States Senate

The Honorable William M. Thomas Chairman The Honorable Charles B. Rangel
Ranking Minority Member Committee on Ways and Means House of
Representatives

Subject: GAO*s Electronic Database of China*s World Trade Organization
Commitments China*s December 2001 accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) signified

that the world*s seventh largest economy and the United State*s fourth
largest trading partner would be subject to the multilateral
organization*s trade liberalizing requirements. China*s accession
agreement is a set of legal documents totaling more than 800 pages. In
order to fulfill its WTO commitments, China will have to undertake
numerous actions over the next 10 years, ranging from reducing or
eliminating tariffs to improving the transparency of trade- related rules
and regulations.

An understanding of the terms of China*s WTO accession is essential to
judging whether China is adhering to these commitments. On October 3,
2002, we issued a report to you entitled World Trade Organization:
Analysis of China*s Commitments to Other Members, GAO- 03- 4. That report
analyzed the agreement between China and WTO members, including the United
States, that allowed China to accede to the WTO. The agreement sets forth
China*s commitments* or legally binding pledges* to other WTO members and
describes how China will adhere to the organization*s underlying
agreements, principles, rules, and specific procedures. Because of the
length and complexity of the accession agreement, we created an electronic
database of the major components of the agreement in order to conduct our
analysis. We are releasing this database publicly today to assist members
of Congress and their staffs, U. S. executive branch agencies, and other
interested parties in analyzing, monitoring, and enforcing China*s WTO
commitments.

2 GAO- 03- 797R China- WTO Database Users can search the database to
identify China*s WTO commitments and to access some of the key results of
our analysis as described in our October 2002 report. In

our analysis, we identified nearly 700 individual commitments concerning
how China is expected to reform its trade regime, as well as commitments
that liberalize market access for more than 7,000 goods and nine broad
services sectors. The database allows users to search the more than 800
pages of the agreement based on broad subject areas (such as intellectual
property rights or import regulation) or on specific key words, sectors,
and products (such as transparency, agriculture, or automobiles). It
combines information on commitments China made relating to tariffs and
nontariff measures (such as quotas) into one source so that users can
quickly identify all the different types of barriers that foreign products
face. The database also allows users to search China*s commitments
relating to services based on a specific sector, mode of delivery, or the
types of limitations that China specified (such as limitations that
require foreign service providers to partner with a Chinese company). In
summary, the flexibility and comprehensiveness of the database can enable
users to quickly and more efficiently analyze China*s commitments.

Background In recognizing the scope and importance of China*s commitments,
Congress has provided significant resources to executive branch agencies
to enhance the government*s ability to monitor and enforce China*s
compliance with its accession agreement. Monitoring and enforcing China*s
compliance has proved to be a complex and challenging task, as
demonstrated by our recent report, World Trade Organization: First- Year
U. S. Efforts to Monitor China*s Compliance, GAO- 03- 461. Those who
monitor China*s compliance with its accession agreement can benefit from
having access to useful tools to identify and study particular
obligations. Our database is one such tool that may be of use in your own
efforts, as well as those of the executive branch, other WTO members, and
the U. S. business community.

Enclosure I provides a brief description of our database and how to
download it. Enclosure II provides a brief summary of our analysis and
some minor modifications we made to the classification of certain
commitments.

We provided a draft of this database to U. S. Trade Representative,
Commerce, State, Agriculture, and other agency officials for their
technical comments, which we have incorporated into the database as
appropriate.

    We are sending copies of this
correspondence and database to interested congressional committees and
executive branch agencies. Copies of this correspondence and access to the
database will be made available at no charge on the GAO Web site at
http:// www. gao. gov.

3 GAO- 03- 797R China- WTO Database If you have questions regarding this
correspondence, please contact me on (202) 512- 4128 or Adam Cowles,
Assistant Director, on (202) 512- 9637. Other major

contributors to this correspondence and to the development of the database
include Matthew Helm and Timothy Wedding.

Susan S. Westin Managing Director International Affairs and Trade

4 GAO- 03- 797R China- WTO Database Enclosure I Description of the
Database Our electronic database of China*s World Trade Organization (WTO)
commitments is a single Microsoft (MS) Access file and requires users to
have MS Access 2000 to

open the file. It includes instructions and tips for using the database
along with definitions of the source data. The database has three main
searchable tables: (1) the text of the agreement, (2) China*s tariff and
nontariff measures on foreign goods, and (3) China*s schedule of services
commitments. In addition, the database includes our identification and
classification of individual commitments from the texts, as well as our
classification of particular types of limitations described in China*s
services schedule. 1 However, the database does not include the list of
subsidies China notified the WTO of (Annex 5) or certain WTO members*
reservations to the agreement (Annex 7). 2 In the process of preparing the
database for public distribution, we added other

categories to our analysis of China*s commitments that were not included
in the October 2002 report. These additional categories did not change the
total number of commitments we identified but did modify slightly the
groupings that we reported. Enclosure II to this correspondence briefly
describes our analysis and the updated categories.

How To Download the Database The database can be accessed on GAO*s Web
site at the following URL: http:// www. gao. gov/ special. pubs/
gaochnawtodb. zip. This file is a self- extracting zip file that includes
the MS Access database (GAO*s China- WTO Database. mdb), text files of the
underlying data tables, China*s original WTO accession agreement, and a
summary file (readme. txt) that explains the various files included. Users
should download the zip file to their computers* hard drive and then
double- click on the file to extract the individual files to a location on
their hard drive. In order to use the full database, users need to have MS
Access 2000 installed on their computers. However, the text files of the
underlying data tables can be imported into any database or spreadsheet
program for users without MS Access 2000.

Please note that some users may have trouble downloading a zip file
depending on whether their agency's or company's fire wall permits it. If
you are unable to download this file, we may be able to send you a copy by
another means. Please refer to the contact information at the end of the
letter portion of this product.

1 For a description of the scope and methodology for this analysis, see U.
S. General Accounting Office, World Trade Organization: Analysis of
China*s Commitments to Other Members, GAO- 03- 4 (Washington, D. C.: Oct.
3, 2002). 2 The subsidies notification is a description of Chinese subsidy
programs and is not easily converted into a useful format for a database.
The reservations annex lists restrictions that seven WTO members (other
than the United States) intend to maintain on certain imports from China
following accession. Both annexes can be downloaded from the WTO Web site.

5 GAO- 03- 797R China- WTO Database Enclosure II Description of Our
Analysis and Updated Categories As part of the analysis in our report
World Trade Organization: Analysis of China*s Commitments to Other
Members, GAO- 03- 4 (Washington, D. C.: Oct. 3, 2002), we

identified seven types of commitments included in the Protocol and Working
Party report of China*s accession agreement. In table 3 (p. 12) of the
report we listed the number of commitments of each type by the area of the
agreement. In the process of preparing the database for public
distribution, we made some minor adjustments to that analysis. These
changes did not affect the overall number of commitments we identified nor
the number in each trade area. The changes affected the classification of
only a few types of commitments within particular areas. In addition, we
are reporting an eighth type of commitment, which we identify in the
database as *practices.* Commitments of this type require China to create,
modify, or repeal an existing practice (that is not specified as a law or
regulation) in order to comply with a WTO requirement. Table 1 presents
our updated analysis of the number of China*s commitments by area and
type.

Table 1: Type and Number of China WTO Trade Regime Commitments, by Area

Area Number of

commitments in area Definitional

Reporting requirement Transparency

Laws and regulations

Practices Guidance

Adhere to WTO Nondiscrimination

Other General 20 3 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 10 Trade framework 82 4 10 19 19 3 31 12
24 7 Import regulation 227 16 37 31 15 33 111 38 24 13 Export regulation 9
0 3 1 1 3 2 3 0 1 Trading rights and industrial policies 117 6 22 7 2 29
31 22 10 21

Agriculture 101 8 11 13 3 11 64 11 5 4 Services 45 9 6 5 1 4 23 3 2 4
Intellectual property rights 34 9 2 1 15 5 9 21 2 1

Safeguards and trade remedies 70 3 8 0 1 2 10 12 0 45

Total 705 58 103 77 57 90 281 125 67 106

Source: GAO analysis of China*s WTO accession agreement.

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