prop · GF03143 · 1992-01-01 00:00:00 — These measures may only concern infant industries, or certain sectors undergoing restructuring or facing serious difficulties, particularly where these diffculties produce important social problems. Customs duties on imports applicable in the CSFR to products originating tn the EFTA States introduced by these measures may not exceed ad valorem and shall maintain an element of preference for products originating in the EFTA States. The total value of imports of the products which are subject to these measures may not exceed of total imports of industrial products from the EFTA States as defined in Article 2 during the last year for which statistics are available. These measures shall be applied for a period not exceeding five years unless a longer duration is authorized by . They shall cease to apply at the latest at the expiration of the transitional period. No such measures can be introduced in respect of a product if more than three years have elapsed since the elimination of all duties and quantitative restrictions or charges or measures having an equivalent effect concerning that product. The CSFR shall inform exceptional measures it intends to take and, at the request of the EFTA States, consultations shall be held in measures and the sectors to which they apply before they are applied. When taking such measures the CSFR shall provide with a schedule for the elimination of the customs duties introduced under this Article. This schedule shall provide for a phasing out of these duties starting at the latest two years after their introduction, at equal annual rates. may decide on a different schedule. Re-export and serious shortage Where compliance with the provisions of Articles 7 and 9 leads to: (a) re-export towards a third country against which the exporting State Party to this Agreement maintains for the product concerned quantitative export restrictions, export duties or measures or charges having equivalent effect; or (b) a serious shortage, or threat thereof, of a product essential to the exporting state Party to this Agreement; and where the situations referred to above give rise or are likely to give rise to major difficulties for the exporting state Party, that state Party may take appropriate measures under the conditions and in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 25. Balance of payments difficulties Where an or the CSFR is in serious balance of payments difficulties, or under imminent threat thereof, the or the CSFR, as the case may be, may, in accordance with the conditions established under the General on Tariffs and Trade, adopt trade restrictive measures, which shall be of limited duration and may not go beyond what is necessary to remedy the balance of payments situation. The measures shall be progressively relaxed as balance of payments conditions improve and they shall be eliminated when conditions no longer justify this maintenance. The or the CSFR, as the case may be, shall inform the other States Parties to this Agreement and forthwith of their introduction and, whenever practicable, of a time schedule for their removal. The States Parties to this Agreement shall, nevertheless, endeavour to avoid the imposition of restrictive measures for balance of payments purposes. Procedure for the application of safeguard measures Before initiating the procedure for the application of safeguard measures set out in the following paragraphs of the present Article, the States Parties to this Agreement shall endeavour to solve any differences between them through direct consultations, and inform the other States Parties to this Agreement thereof. Without prejudice to paragraph 6 of the present Article, a State Party which considers resorting to safeguard measures shall promptly notify the other States Parties and thereof and supply all relevant information. Consultations between the States Parties shall take place without delay in with a view to finding a commonly acceptable solution. (a) As regards Article 19 the States Parties concerned shall give to all the assistance required in order to examine the case and, where appropriate, eliminate the practice objected to. If the State party in question fails to put an end to the practice objected to within the period fixed by or if fails to reach an agreement after consultations, or after thirty days following referral for such consultations, the State Party concerned may adopt the appropriate measures to deal with the difficulties resulting from the practice in question. (b) As regards Articles 20, 21 and 23, shall examine the case or the situation and may take any decision needed to put an end to the difficulties notified by the State Party concerned. In the absence of such a decision within thirty days of the matter being referred to , the State Party concerned may adopt the measures necessary in order to remedy the situation. (c) As regards Article 31, the State Party concerned shall supply with all relevant information required for a thorough examination of the situation with a view to seeking a commonly acceptable solution. If fails to reach such a solution or if a period of three months has elapsed from the date of notification, the State Party concerned may take appropriate measures. The safeguard measures taken shall be notified immediately to the States Parties to this Agreement and to . They shall be restricted with regard to their extent and to their duration to what is strictly necessary in order to rectify the situation giving rise to their application and shall not be in excess of the injury caused by the practice or the difficulty in question. Priority shall be given to such measures as will least disturb the functioning of the Agreement. The measures taken by the CSFR against an action or an omission of an may only affect the trade with that State. The measures taken against an action or omission of the CSFR may be only taken by that or those EFTA States the trade of which is affected by the said action or omission. The safeguard measures taken shall be the object of regular consultations within with a view to their relaxation and substitution, as soon as possible, or abolition when conditions no longer justify their maintenance. Where exceptional circumstances requiring immediate action make prior examination impossible, the State Party concerned may, in the cases of Articles 20, 21 and 23 apply forthwith the precautionary and provisional maeasures strictly necessary to deal with the situation. The measures shall be notified without delay and consultations between the States Parties to this Agreement shall take place as soon as possible within . Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent a State Party to this Agreement from taking any measures which it considers necessary: (a) to prevent the disclosure of information contrary to its essential security interests; (b) for the protection of its essential security interests or for the implementation of international obligations or national policies (i) relating to the traffic in arms, ammunition and implements of war, provided that such measures do not impair the conditions of competition in respect of products not intended for specifically military purposes, and to such traffic in other goods, materials and services as is carried on directly or indirectly for the purpose of supplying a military ; or (ii) relating to the non-proliferation of biological and chemical weapons, nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; or (iii) taken in time of war or other serious international tension. The implementation of this Agreement shall be supervised and administered by a . The work of shall be coordinated with established under the Declaration. For the purpose of the proper implementation of the Agreement, the States Parties to this Agreement shall exchange information and, at the request of any State Party to this Agreement, shall hold consultations within . shall keep under review the possibility of further removal of the obstacles to trade between the EFTA States and the CSFR. may take decisions in the cases provided for in this Agreement. On other matters may make recommendations. For the proper implementation of this Agreement shall meet whenever necessary but at least once a year. Each State Party to this Agreement may request that a meeting be held. shall act by common agreement. If a representative in to this Agreement has accepted a decision subject to the fulfilment of constitutional requirements, the decision shall enter into force, if no later date is contained therein, on the day the lifting of the reservation is notified. For the purpose of this Agreement shall adopt its rules of procedure which shall, inter alia, contain provisions for convening meetings and for the designation of the Chairman and his term of office. may decide to set up such sub- committees and working parties as it considers necessary to assist it in accomplishing its tasks. Where a State Party to this Agreement considers that it would be useful in the interests of the economies of the States Parties to this Agreement to develop and deepen the relations established by the Agreement by extending them to fields not covered thereby, it shall submit a reasoned request to the States Parties to this Agreement. The States Parties to this Agreement may instruct to examine this request and, where appropriate to make recommendations to them, particularly with a view to opening negotiations. Agreements resulting from the procedure referred to in paragraph 1 will be subject to ratification or approval by the States Parties to this Agreement in accordance with their own procedures. The States Parties to this Agreement recognize the growing importance of certain areas, such as services and investments. In their efforts to gradually develop and broaden their co-operation, in particular in the context of European integration, they will co-operate with the aim of achieving a gradual liberalization and mutual opening of markets for investments and trade in services, taking into account relevant work. The EFTA States and the CSFR will discuss in this cooperation with the aim to develop and deepen their relations under the Agreement. The States Parties to this Agreement shall take all necessary measures to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Agreement and the fulfilment of their obligations under the Agreement. If an considers that the CSFR has, or if the CSFR considers that an has failed to fulfil an obligation under this Agreement, the State Party concerned may take the appropriate measures under the conditions and in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 25. The Annexes and the Protocols to this Agreement are an integral part of it. may decide to amend the Annexes, and Protocols A and B. Article 33 Trade relations governed by other Agreements This Agreement applies to trade relations between, on the one side, the individual EFTA States and, on the other side, the CSFR, but not to the trade relations between individual EFTA States, except if otherwise provided for in this Agreement. (a) The Agreement between and the CSFR on the Reciprocal Removal of Obstacles to Trade, signed in on 19ûSeptember 1974, as amended, (hereinafter referred to as SF-CS Agreement), shall remain in force during a transitional period, by the end of which the mutual benefits accorded by the SF-CS Agreement to its Parties will have been fully substituted by the benefits provided for by the present Agreement. At that stage the SF-CS Agreement shall be terminated by a joint decision of its Parties, and the other Parties to the present Agreement shall be notified of this decision without delay. (b) The provisions of Articles 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 29 and 30 of the present Agreement shall also apply, mutatis mutandis, to trade between and the CSFR under the SF-CS Agreement. (c) Specific rules on the implementation of paragraphs 1 and 2(a) and (b) of this Article, are contained in to the present Agreement. Customs unions, free trade areas and frontier trade This Agreement shall not prevent the maintenance or of customs unions, free trade areas or arrangements for frontier trade to the extent that these do not negatively affect the trade regime and in particular the provisions concerning rules of origin provided for by this Agreement. This Agreement shall apply to the territories of the States Parties to this Agreement. Amendments to this Agreement other than those referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 27 which are approved by shall be submitted to the States Parties to this Agreement for acceptance and shall enter into force if accepted by all the States Parties to this Agreement. The instruments of acceptance shall be deposited with the Depositary. , Member of , may accede to this Agreement, provided that decides to approve its accession, to be negotiated between the acceding State and the States Parties concerned, on such terms and conditions as may be set out in that decision. The instrument of accession shall be deposited with the Depositary. In relation to an acceding State, the Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the deposit of its instrument of accession. Each State Party to this Agreement may withdraw therefrom by means of a written notification to the Depositary. The withdrawal shall take effect six months after the date on which the notification is received by the Depositary. If the CSFR withdraws, the Agreement shall expire at the end of the notice period, and if all EFTA States withdraw it shall expire at the end of the latest notice period. state which withdraws from the Convention establishing shall ipso facto on the same day as the withdrawal takes effect cease to be a State Party to this Agreement. This Agreement shall enter into force on 1 1992, provided that all Signatory States have deposited their instruments of ratification or acceptance with the Depositary. If this Agreement has not entered into force in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 and provided that the CSFR has deposited its instrument of ratification or acceptance, representatives of the Signatory States having deposited such an instrument shall meet on the initiative of the CSFR before 31 1992 and may decide when the Agreement shall enter into force in relation to those States. As long as no such decision has been taken, a meeting for the same purpose shall be held on the initiative of the CSFR not later than thirty days after any further has deposited its instrument. In relation to a depositing its instrument of ratification or acceptance after the meeting referred to in paragraph 2, this Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the deposit of its instrument, but not before the date decided upon in accordance with paragraph 2. may already at the time of signature declare that, during an initial phase, it shall apply the Agreement provisionally, if the Agreement cannot enter into force in relation to that State by 1 1992. The Government of , acting as Depositary, shall notify all States that have signed or acceded to this Agreement of the deposit of any instrument of ratification, acceptance or accession, the entry into force of this Agreement, any other act or notification relating to this Agreement or of its expiry. IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized thereto, have signed the present Agreement. DONE at (Place and date) ...., in a single authentic copy in the English language which shall be deposited with the Government of . The Depositary shall transmit certified copies to all Signatory States, and States acceding to this Agreement.