WORLD TRADE G/L/127
30October 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-4564)
Committee onImport Licensing
REPORT OFTHE COMMITTEE ONIMPORT LICENSING
A. Background
1. TheAgreement onImport Licensing Procedures (theAgreement) entered intoforce on
1January 1995. Thisreport, drawn upinaccordance withthestatement made bytheChairman of
theGeneral Council atitsmeeting on16April 1996 withregard to"Reporting Procedures forthe
Singapore Ministerial Conference" (WT/L/145), addresses thework undertaken bytheCommittee on
Import Licensing (theCommittee) during 1995 and1996 inrespect oftheimplementation ofthe
Agreement.
2. TheAgreementestablishesdisciplinesontheusersofimportlicensingsystemswiththeprincipal
objective ofensuring thattheprocedures applied forgranting import licences donotinthemselves
restrict trade. Itaimstosimplify, clarify andminimize theadministrative requirements necessary to
obtain import licences.
3. During theperiod under consideration, theCommittee heldfourmeetings on3Mayand
12October 1995, andon8March and23October 1996 (G/LIC/M/1-4). Itelected
Mr.Calson Mbegabolawe (Zimbabwe) asChairman andMr.JanMichalek (Poland) asVice-Chairman
for1995, andre-elected them for1996.
4. Participation intheCommittee isopen toallMembers oftheWTO. Governments granted
observer status bytheWTO General Council aswellastherepresentatives oftheIMF, UNCTAD
andtheWorld Bank attended meetings oftheCommittee asobservers.
5. Atitsmeeting on12October 1995, theCommittee adopted itsRules ofProcedure which were
subsequently approved bytheCouncil forTrade inGoods.
B. Implementation oftheAgreement
6. During theperiod covered, theCommittee adopted procedures fornotification andreviews
under theAgreement. Asconcerns theannual notifications provided forinArticle 7.3,itagreed on
revisions totheQuestionnaire onImport Licensing Procedures andestablished atime-limit of
30September tosubmit these notifications (G/LIC/M/2).
7. Todate,30Members (theEuropean Communities anditsmember States counted asone)have
notified theirlegislation and/or publications pursuant toArticles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b) oftheAgreement;
29Members havesubmitted replies totheQuestionnaire onImport Licensing Procedures pursuant
toArticle 7.3;eightMembers havenotified theinstitution ofimport licensing procedures orchanges
therein pursuant toArticle 5.TheChairman oftheCommittee repeatedly expressed concern thatmany
Members havenotyetcomplied withthemandatory notification requirements ofArticles 1.4(a), 8.2(b)
and7.3,andurged those Members which havenotyetdonesotosubmit theirnotifications without
further delay. Members which donotapply import licensing procedures orhavenolawsorregulations
relevant totheAgreement werealsorequested tonotify theCommittee ofthisfactsothatacomplete
picture canbeobtained. TheAnnex reflects thecurrent status ofnotifications.G/L/127
Page2
8. Under Articles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b) oftheAgreement, theCommittee received notifications
oflawsandregulations relevant toimport licensing applicable inArgentina, Australia, Barbados,
Canada,Chile,Colombia,CostaRica,Cuba,Cyprus,theEuropeanCommunities,HongKong,Hungary,
Jamaica, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Peru,
Romania, Singapore, Swaziland, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Uruguay andZimbabwe.
9. Under Article 7.3oftheAgreement, theCommittee received replies totheQuestionnaire on
Import Licensing Procedures fromArgentina, Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco,
NewZealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Trinidad andTobago, Turkey,
Uruguay andtheUnited States.
10. TheCommittee further received notifications relating totheinstitution ofimport licensing
procedures orchanges inthese procedures submitted byArgentina, theEuropean Communities,
Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan andRomania.
11. TheCommittee tooknoteoftheinvocation oftheprovisions offootnote 5toArticle 2.2by
24developing country Members. Thisinvocation enables developing countries which werenotParties
totheTokyoRoundAgreementonImportLicensingProcedurestodelaytheapplicationoftheprovisions
ofsubparagraphs 2.2(a)(ii) and(a)(iii) linked toautomatic import licensing bynotmore thantwoyears
from thedateofWTO Membership.
12. Asconcerns substantive issues arising fromnotifications ofimport licensing procedures which
could beraised byMembers, theCommittee reached anunderstanding onreview procedures ingeneral
withaviewtofacilitating andspeeding upthereview ofnotifications andminimizing anydelays in
providing clarifications orresponses tosuchqueries concerning notifications (G/LIC/4).
13. TheCommittee agreed thatallimport licensing procedures thatfallunder thisAgreement should
benotified totheCommittee onImport Licensing (G/LIC/M/2, paragraphs 21-23).
14. TheCommittee tooknoteofarequest bytheUnited States, Guatemala, Honduras andMexico
forconsultations withtheEuropean Communities under, interalia,theAgreement onImport Licensing
Procedures,concerningtheECregimefortheimportation,saleanddistributionofbananas(G/LIC/M/2).
15. TheCommittee alsotooknoteofaDecision bytheGeneral Council onthe"Avoidance of
Procedural andInstitutional Duplication" (WT/L/29).
16. TheCommittee conducted itsfirstbiennial review oftheimplementation andoperation ofthe
Agreement under Article 7.1onthebasisofafactual report prepared bytheSecretariat (G/LIC/5 and
G/LIC/M/4).
C. Conclusions andRecommendations
17. Asregards theimplementation oftheAgreement, theCommittee established itsRules of
Procedure, agreed onprocedures fornotification andbiennial reviews, reached anunderstanding on
review procedures ingeneral todealwithqueries byMembers inrespect ofnotifications, andreceived
notifications oflaws, regulations andimport licensing procedures fromsome Members. Theoverall
compliance withnotification obligations hasnotbeensatisfactory.
18. TheCommittee recognizing theimportance ofnotifications fortheeffective implementation
andfunctioning oftheAgreement, andnoting thepaucity ofmandatory notifications received sofar,
recommends adherence byMembers tothese obligations.G/L/127
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ANNEX
(i) Notifications oflegislation and/or publications (Articles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b)) received from:
(30)(G/LIC/N/1/- series)
Argentina
Australia
Barbados
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Cyprus
ECHong Kong
Hungary
Jamaica
Japan
Malta
Mauritius
Morocco
NewZealand
Nicaragua
NorwayPakistan
Peru
Romania
Singapore
Swaziland
Turkey
Uganda
United States
Uruguay
Zimbabwe
(ii) Replies totheQuestionnaire onImport Licensing Procedures (Article 7.3)received from:
(29)(G/LIC/N/3/- series)
Argentina
Australia
Barbados
Bolivia
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cyprus
EcuadorHong Kong
Hungary
India
Japan
Korea
Malta
Mauritius
Morocco
NewZealand
NigeriaNorway
Peru
Philippines
Romania
Singapore
Trinidad &Tobago
Turkey
United States
Uruguay
(iii) Notifications ofinstitution ofimport licensing procedures orchanges therein (Article 5)received
from: (8)(G/LIC/N/2/- series)
Argentina
EC
Hong Kong
JapanMalaysia
Nigeria
Pakistan
Romania
(iv) Developingcountrieswhichhaveinvokedthetwo-yeardelayedapplicationprovisions(footnote5
toArticle 2.2): (24)(G/LIC/1 andAdds.1-3)
Bangladesh (asfrom 1.1.95) Dominican Republic (9.3.95) Myanmar (1.1.95)
Bolivia (13.9.95) ElSalvador (7.5.95) SriLanka (1.1.95)
Brazil (1.1.95) Gabon (1.1.95) Thailand (1.1.95)
Burkina Faso(3.6.95) Guatemala (21.7.95) Tunisia (29.3.95)
Cameroon (13.12.95) Honduras (1.1.95) Turkey (26.3.95)
Colombia (30.4.95) Indonesia (1.1.95) UnitedArabEmirates(10.4.96)
Costa Rica(1.1.95) Kenya (1.1.95) Uruguay (1.1.95)
Côted'Ivoire (1.1.95) Malaysia (1.1.95) Venezuela (1.1.95)