66. The representative of Canada recalled the wording of Article 23.4 and said that his delegation interpreted the formulation "in those Members participating in the system" as clearly providing for voluntary participation.
67. In response to Brazil's question of how the Joint Proposal Group viewed participation, he said that his delegation did not distinguish between developed and developing countries. All Members were free to decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to participate. At the same time, his delegation realized that there was an interest in greater certainty in trade negotiations and it would thus be prepared to consider asking Members to indicate as part of the negotiations their interest in participating. To that end his delegation would be interested to hear from all those Members associated with TN/C/W/52 - which was silent on the specific question of whether there was support for mandatory participation - whether they actually believed that there should be mandatory participation.
