RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/C/W/101
18November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5055)
Original: English Council forTrade inGoods
ELEMENTS FOR CONSIDERATION INMAJOR REVIEW OFTHE IMPLEMENTATION
OFTHE AGREEMENT ONTEXTILES AND CLOTHING (ATC)
Communication from Colombia1
Thefollowing communication hasbeenreceived from thePermanent Mission ofColombia
onbehalf ofmembers oftheITCB thatarealsoMembers oftheWTO forcirculation toMembers.
_____________
Assessing theApplication ofStrengthened GATT Rules andDisciplines
Atthetwoprevious meetings oftheCTG, twonon-papers were circulated byColombia on
behalf ofmembers oftheITCB thatarealsoMembers oftheWTO:
- Thefirstcontained anassessment oftheintegration programmes ofthefourWTO Members
which applied quantitative restrictions under theMFA andtheATC.
- Thesecond non-paper addressed theapplication oftransitional safeguards bythese Members.
Coming totheapplication ofstrengthened GATT rulesanddisciplines, Iampleased tocirculate
athirdnon-paper onbehalf ofmembers oftheITCB thatarealsoMembers oftheWTO.
Asinthetwoprevious meetings, thisthirdnon-paper alsocontains self-explanatory tables which
speak forthemselves.
1. Anti-dumping measures
Table Ishows thenumber ofanti-dumping andanti-subsidy actions initiated bytheEuropean
Communities byproduct sector.
- Itmaybeseenthatthelargest number ofactions wastargeted attextile products.
- Asnoted atthebottom ofTable I,during thefirsttwoyears oftheATC, noanti-dumping
action involving imports oftextiles products wasinitiated byNorway. Canada didnotinitiate
anynewanti-dumping actions. Itreviewed thethree pre-existing measures which resulted
inthewithdrawal ofoneanti-dumping duty. InthecaseoftheUS,oneanti-dumping action
initiated against imports ofspunrayon singles yarnfrom Austria resulted innegative injury
1Circulated initially asanon-paper intheCouncil forTrade inGoods meeting of7November 1997.G/C/W/101
Page2
determination bytheUSInternational Trade Commission, andtherefore noanti-dumping duty
wasimposed.
Table IIreveals therepetitive pattern inanti-dumping actions intheEU,against thesame
products, involving countries whose exports oftheseproducts hasalready beenrestrained byquantitative
restrictions under theATC.
- Besides amounting todouble protection, thisrepeated recourse toanti-dumping actions results
inlosses forbusinesses.
Table IIIshows theamount oftrade affect byEU'santi-dumping actions.
- Itmaybeseenthat,overall, more thanhalfofextra-EC imports intheproducts concerned
wasaffected byanti-dumping actions.
- Thetable alsoshows thatthese anti-dumping actions aregenerally directed atnon-apparel,
i.e.capital intensive products.
Viewed against thecontext andpurpose oftheATC, which istophase outdiscriminatory
quantitative restrictions carried overfromtheMFA andthereby tofurther liberalize trade intextiles,
thispronounced recourse toanti-dumping actions hasasignificant bearing oneffective andsmooth
transition ofthesector totheGATT.
2. Newcustoms andadministrative formalities
OneoftheWTO Members adopted certain measures inthesphere ofcustoms andother
administrative formalities:
First:
- TheUSeffected changes initsrules oforigin relating totextiles andclothing after the
implementation oftheATC.
- These changes resulted indisruptive effects foraccess under theATC.
- Thechanges, effected fromJuly1996, obliged theexporters tomodify theorigin ofproducts
inrespect ofcertain consignments, which hadalready beenshipped, togetthem cleared at
customs. Thiscaused problems intheadministration ofquotas byexporting countries.
- When challenged bytheEUunder WTO 'sdispute settlement procedures, theUSagreed to
revert tothepre-1996 rules, butonlyinrespects ofproducts ofinterest totheEU.
Second:
- TheUShasrecently decided tocontinue withthevisarequirements eveninrespect ofproducts
which willbeintegrated intotheGATT witheffect from January 1998.
- Therequirement contravenes theMFN obligation under theGATT, andiscontrary tothe
principle ofintegration oftextiles intotheGATT.G/C/W/101
Page3
Third:
- TheUSCustoms enforced bondrequirements forshipments fromcompanies suspected ofbeing
involved intranshipments. Subsequently, thecustoms increased theminimum bondamounts
foralltextile andapparel importers ofgoods imported from allsources.
- Thebond requirement added tothecostofimports.
- Theincrease inpaperwork andcostforimports, adversely affects importers 'decision for
sourcing ofproducts from various suppliers.
3. Conclusions
Eachofthemeasures thatIhavereferred tohasaffected theprocess ofintegration andconstitutes
newbarriers totrade intextiles, andhence hasimportant implications fortheimplementation ofthe
ATC.
These newbarriers havefurther increased therestrictions ontextiles andclothing.
Anti-dumping measures adopted onproducts subject toquantitative restraints amount todouble
protection, andhence arecontrary tothespirit oftheATC. Thechanges inrules oforigin andthe
continuation ofvisarequirements onintegrated products seem tobecontrary toGATT rules.
Initsmajor review oftheimplementation oftheATC, theCTGshould consider alltheseissues
inthecontext oftheapplication ofstrengthened GATT rules anddisciplines.
Iwouldalsorequestthatthisnon-paper,andthetwopreviousnon-paperssubmittedbyColombia
onbehalf ofthemembers oftheITCB thatarealsoMembers oftheWTO, maybecirculated asformal
documents oftheCTG.G/C/W/101
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TABLE I
EUAnti-dumping andAnti-subsidy Actions bySector
Product Group 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Total
Textiles - 1 17 4 10 32
Electronics 13 7 3 7 - 30
Chemicals 10 5 3 4 - 22
IronandSteel 3 - 7 2 9 21
Other Metals 5 5 3 5 1 19
Other Mechanical
Engineering - 2 4 3 - 9
Wood andpaper - - - 1 - 1
Others 8 1 6 7 5 27
Source: FifteenthAnnualReportsubmittedbytheECCommissiontotheEuropeanParliamentontheCommunity's
Anti-Dumping andAnti-Subsidy Activities, Brussels 16September 1997, COM(97)428 final.
Notes: Norway didnotinitiate anyanti-dumping action during thefirsttwoyears oftheATC.
Canada didnotinitiate anynewanti-dumping action. Itreviewed thethree pre-existing measures which
resulted inthewithdrawal ofoneanti-dumping duty.
USinitiated oneanti-dumping action against imports ofspunrayon singles yarnfrom Austria in1996.
TheUSInternationalTradeCommissionconcludedtheinvestigationwithanegativeinjurydetermination,
andtherefore noanti-dumping dutywasimposed.
Observations:
Thetableshows thenumber ofanti-dumping andanti-subsidy investigations initiated bythe
EUbyproduct sectors.
Itmaybeseenthatthelargest number ofactions were targeted attextile products.G/C/W/101
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TABLE II
Repeat Pattern inEU'sAnti-dumping Actions
I. Synthetic staple fibrefabrics:
Firstinvestigation:
-Initiated 20January 1994
-Terminated 19February 1996
II. Cotton fabrics:
Firstinvestigation:
-Initiated 20January 1994
-Terminated 19February 1996
Second investigation:
-Initiated 21February 1996
-Provisional anti-dumping duties 20November 1996
-Provisions duties withdrawn 18May1997
Third investigation:
-Complaint lodged 22May1997
-Investigation initiated 11July1997
III. Bedlinen:
Firstinvestigation:
-Initiated 25January 1994
-Terminated 10July1996
Second investigation:
-Initiated 13September 1996
-Provisional duties imposed 13June1997
_________
Source: Various ECnotifications
Observations:
- Thetablereveals repeated anti-dumping actions against thesameproducts, involving countries
whose exports ofthese products arealready restrained byquantitative restrictions under the
MFA/ATC.
- Besides amounting todouble protection, therepeated recourse toanti-dumping actions results
inlosses forbusinesses.G/C/W/101
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TABLE III
Imports Subject toEUAnti-Dumping Actions in1996
Value: 1000 ECU Volume: Tons
Volume Value
Product Extra-
EU
ImportsImports
subject
toA-D
action(3)as
%of(2)Extra-
EU
ImportsImports
subject to
A-D
action(6)as
%of
(5)
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
1.Cotton woven fabrics
(unbleached, grey) 238,263 137,779 57.83 831,663 476,901 57.34
2.Bedlinen 84,292 52,990 62.86 547,560 323,427 59.07
3.Cotton yarn 10,215 1,244 12.18 26,883 2,821 10.49
4.Polyester yarn(PTY) 92,943 52,653 56.65 192,106 99,061 51.57
5.Polyester yarn(POY) 80,749 34,804 43.10 133,133 50,505 37.94
6.Polyester yarns
(MMF staple fibres) 90,189 21,283 23.60 235,680 53,920 22.88
7.Synthetic textile fibres of
polyester 112,137 49,579 44.21 138,157 54,048 39.12
8.Sport bags 127,034 99,184 78.08 767,347 545,743 71.12
9.Handbags 14,694 11,368 77.36 110,889 81,737 73.71
10. Briefcases andschoolbags 12,584 9,977 79.28 71,000 48,648 68.52
11. Twine, cordage, rope&
cables ofpolyethylene or
polypropylene 5,311 1,002 18.87 12,354 1,512 12.24
12. Woven polyolefin sacks 35,832 5,640 15.74 51,158 6,844 13.38
13. Sacks &bags of
polyethylene or
polypropylene 35,832 19,428 54.22 51,158 26,609 52.01
14. Binder andbaler twine 11,337 3,344 29.50 8,840 2,273 25.71
15. Typewriter ribbons 1,150 879 76.43 46,206 33,257 71.98
TOTAL 916,730 501,154 54.67 3,172,976 1,807,306 56.96
Sources: G/ADP/N/22/EEC, andEurostat, Intra andExtra-EU trade, August 1997
Note: 1)Data forCNpositions notcovered byATC have been excluded.
2)Theactions against products atserial no.12and13involve thesame CNcodes. Therefore the
Extra-EU imports forthetwocases have been computed onlyonce fortheoverall total.
Observations:
- Thetableshows theamounts oftrade affected byEUanti-dumping actions in1996. Overall,
more thanhalfofextra-EC imports intheproducts concerned wasaffected bythese actions.
- Thetablealsoreveals thattheanti-dumping actions aregenerally directed atnon-apparel, i.e.,
capital intensive products.