GENERAL

BEFORE 1995

1. The Aircraft Agreement was concluded on 12 April 1979 at the end of the Tokyo Round. It entered into force on 1 January 1980. The Agreement consists of tariff provisions requiring bound duty-free treatment for products listed in an Annex; provisions addressing non-tariff barriers to trade in civil aircraft; and institutional and final provisions. The Agreement is administered by the Committee on Trade in Civil Aircraft.

2. During the 1980s, the Committee agreed on expansion of the Annex’s product scope and on its transposition into the Harmonized System nomenclature. A Protocol amended the Agreement to replace the original Annex, effective 1 January 1988.

3. The Agreement was not included within the subjects for negotiation in the Uruguay Round. In 1993–94, there were efforts to seek agreement on a replacement text for the Agreement, or on rectifications to its existing text, so that the Agreement would be aligned with the WTO institutional and dispute settlement framework. These efforts were unsuccessful. The 1979 Aircraft Agreement was included in Annex 4 of the WTO Agreement in its state as at 15 April 1994. The WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding does not apply to claims brought under the dispute settlement provisions of the Agreement; see paragraph 29 below.