13. The representative of Australia said that the compilation was a useful tool. He made a few preliminary remarks and suggestions. With regard to the mandate of negotiations, he suggested having a clear explanation that the mandate of these negotiations stemmed from Article 23.4 and from the Doha Ministerial Declaration. In this connection, he expressed his surprise at seeing paragraph 10, which had nothing to do with the mandate, and suggested that it be deleted and paragraph 11 be placed more appropriately under the heading "Scope of the mandate". With regard to "Participation", he said that this set of issues had only been briefly discussed at the meetings; it was an important issue, in particular for those countries which did not have any direct interest in wines and spirits, if the system as proposed by some participants would add burdens. For his delegation and others, the system must be voluntary, and the issue of participation should be discussed further. As to the future work, he said that his delegation was unable, at this stage, to accept the possibility of charging the Chairperson with the task of tabling a negotiating text, even if it were on his own responsibility. There was no agreement on such a possibility. Bearing in mind the substantial concerns mentioned by many countries, particularly developing countries, about how to bring these negotiations to a conclusion, he said that further discussions and a revision of the compilation would be necessary in order to bridge the considerable differences that existed.
