WORLD TRADE G/TMB/R/36
14November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5022)
Textiles Monitoring Body
REPORT OFTHE THIRTY-SEVENTH MEETING
1. TheTextiles Monitoring Body helditsthirty-seventh meeting on7and8October 1997.
2. Miss Orozco Jaramillo appointed Ambassador Victor Miguel Lagos Pizzati (ElSalvador) to
replace Mr.Mario Ernesto Castro Grande (ElSalvador) ashersecond alternate.
3. Presentatthismeetingwerethefollowingmembersand/oralternatesandobserver:Mrs.Berrig/
Mr.Tadpitakkul;Mrs.Dwarka-Canabady;Messrs.Kim/Mannan;Kobayashi;Malik;Mukerji/Abdel
AzizMohammed;MissOrozcoJaramillo/Messrs.DaCosta/LagosPizzati;Richards;Tagliani;Urkan;
Wentzel/Moroz.
4. TheTMB adopted thereport ofitsthirty-sixth meeting (G/TMB/R/35).
Notifications under Articles 2.6,2.7(a) and(b),2.8(a) and2.11oftheATC: Communications Received
from Members inResponse toQuestions putbytheTMB
5. Anumber ofMembers, asnoted inparagraphs 6to9below, responded toquestions putby
theTMB withaviewtoverifying whether thestatistical information provided regarding integration
referred, where appropriate, tothose portions oftheHSlinescovered bytheATCandnottotheentire
respective 6-digit HSlines(G/TMB/R/29, paragraphs 43to45).
6. TheTMB tooknoteoftwocommunications byNorway (G/TMB/N/3/Adds.2 and3and
G/TMB/N/210/Adds.3 and4)related tothenotifications ofitsfirstandsecond stages ofintegration.
While Norway ’sintegration programme forthesecond stage didnotcontain products corresponding
tothe"exHSlines" intheAnnex totheATC, thefirststage integration programme included 11such
products. After having re-examined thestatistical information available forallproducts covered by
theATC atthe8-digit level, Norway hadconcluded thatimports under one"exHSline"should not
havebeencounted inthebasisforcalculation ofintegration under Stage 1aswellasthatoftotalimports
in1990 ofATC products, andthatitwasalsopossible thatasecond “exHSline”should nothave
beencounted either. Inaddition, imports under another "exHSline"(which had,however, notbeen
included intheintegration programmes sofar),should nothavebeenincluded inthecalculation of
totalimports in1990 ofATC products. Intheother cases, more precise import dataorcalculations
other thanthose previously given could notbeprovided. Accordingly, Norway considered thatin
these cases thegiven levels of1990 imports must besaidtocorrespond totherespective product
descriptions contained intheAnnex totheATC. Inasubsequent notification noting, interalia,that
noWTO Member hadsofarcontested thevalidity ofitsintegration notifications, Norway confirmed
thatitwasnotpossible forittoprovide abreakdown ofcertain HSpositions tothelevel specified
intheAnnex totheATC andthatintheabsence ofmore detailed statistics itfound itunreasonable
andcontrary totheATC todisregard therecorded imports atthenearest aggregated level. However,
inorder todispel anydoubts about thefulfilment ofitsobligations under theATC, regardless ofthe
method ofcalculation, Norway haddecided tomake certain corrections andadditions toitsintegration
notifications. With respect toitsfirststage integration programme, Norway, while maintaining allG/TMB/R/36
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theproducts originally notified, decided totransfer several products previously notified forintegration
inStage 2totheproducts integrated forStage 1.Asaresult ofthis,according toNorway, thevolume
oftheproducts integrated forStage 1amounted to26.32 percentofthevolume ofimports in1990
oftheproducts falling under thecoverage oftheAgreement1(ofwhich 10.31 percentofthevolume
of1990 imports covered imports ofproducts falling under "exHSlines").
7. The TMB took note ofacommunication byPakistan (G/TMB/N/58/Add.2 and
G/TMB/N/241/Rev.1/Add.1)relatedtothenotificationofitsfirststageofintegration,inwhichPakistan,
while acknowledging thatthelistitprovided forthefirststage ofintegration contained twoHSlines
which didnotentirely fallwithin thecoverage oftheATC stated, interalia,thatthese twolineshad
notbeencounted inthetotalvolume integrated byPakistan intoGATT 1994intherespective integration
stage. Therefore, theirinclusion could notbeinterpreted asanactofnon-conformity withtheATC.
Furthermore, Pakistan clarified thatthebase-year volume dataprovided inthecontext ofitsfirstand
second stages ofintegration notifications didnotinclude anyitems which werenotincorrespondence
withtheprecise product definitions ascontained intheAnnex totheATC.
8. TheTMB took noteofacommunication bythePhilippines (G/TMB/N/76/Add.2 and
G/TMB/N/205/Add.1) related tothenotification ofitsfirststageofintegration, inwhich thePhilippines
explained thatthelevelofimports indicated forthe"exHSlines" contained inthenotification ofits
firststageofintegration corresponded inonecasetotherespective precise product description contained
intheAnnex totheATC, andthatintheother itcasedidnot.However, evenifthetotality ofthe
imports under theHSline,which didnotcorrespond totheprecise product description contained in
theAnnex were tobededucted from thetotalimports integrated forthefirststage, thenotification
ofthefirststage ofintegration would stillbewithin thepercentage requirements oftheATC.
9. TheTMB tooknoteofacommunication byTurkey (G/TMB/N/44/Add.1) related tothe
notification ofitsfirststage ofintegration, inwhich itexplained thatthelevelofimports indicated
forthe"exHSlines" contained inthenotification ofitsfirststage ofintegration corresponded insome
cases totherespective precise product descriptions contained intheAnnex totheATC, whereas in
some other cases itwasnotpossible toindicate whether ornottheycorresponded. Inanycase, the
products integrated forthefirststage didnotrepresent lessthan17percentofthetotalvolume of
Turkey ’s1990imports oftheproducts contained intheAnnex totheATC, eveniftheimports ofthe
items, forwhich itwasnotpossible toindicate whether ornottheycorresponded totherespective
precise product descriptions contained intheAnnex totheATC, were tobededucted.
10. Inviewofthefactthatthesecond stageintegration programmes would havetobeimplemented
asfrom 1January 1998, theTMB decided tosendreminders tothose Members from which replies
were stillexpected tothequestions putbytheTMB withaviewtoverifying whether thestatistical
information provided regarding integration referred, where appropriate, tothoseportions oftheHSlines
covered bytheATC andnottotheentire respective HS6-digit lines, orwithrespect toanyother
particular aspects oftheirrespective programmes.
Notification under Articles 2.8(a) and2.11oftheATC
11. TheTMB tooknoteofcorrections made toitssecond stageintegration programme byNorway
(G/TMB/N/210/Adds 3and4),following thequestions putbytheTMB withaviewtoverifying whether
thestatistical information provided byNorway referred, where appropriate, tothose portions ofthe
1Seealsoparagraph 11.G/TMB/R/36
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HSlinescovered bytheATC andnottotheentire respective HS6-digit lines.2Asaresult ofthese
corrections andinaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), thevolume oftheproducts integrated (including
products fromeachofthefourgroups: topsandyarns, fabrics, made-up textile products andclothing)
amounted to17.02 percentofthevolume ofimports in1990oftheproducts falling under thecoverage
oftheAgreement, inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a).
12. Following thereview bytheTMB ofthecommunications made byPakistan andthePhilippines
inresponse tothequestions putbytheTMB withaviewtoverifying whether thestatistical information
provided bythemregarding integration referred, where appropriate, tothose portions oftheHSlines
covered bytheATC andnottotheentire respective HS6-digit lines,3theTMB noted thattheimport
volumeoftheproductsintegratedforthesecondstageofintegrationbybothPakistanandthePhilippines,
asearlier noted bytheTMB (G/TMB/R/31, paragraph 5andG/TMB/R/30, paragraph 8,respectively),
remained unchanged.
Notification under Article 2.15oftheATC
13. TheTMB reviewed thenotification made byNorway under Article 2.15oftheelimination
intwosteps ofmost oftherestrictions remaining under theATC withrespect toWTO Members
(G/TMB/N/306). On31December 1997, 32quotas affecting 16WTO Members would beeliminated,
andon31December 1998, fivefurther quotas affecting fiveWTO Members would beeliminated.
TheMembers affected hadalsobeeninformed inadvance, inaccordance withArticle 2.15. TheTMB
commended Norway fortheearly elimination ofmost oftherestrictions itmaintained under this
Agreement.
Communication from theUnited States
14. TheUnited States informed theTMB that,inpursuance ofaearlier communication totheTMB,4
ithadremoved therestraint onimports ofproducts ofUScategory 435from Honduras on
30September 1997.
Report (1997) bytheTextiles Monitoring Body
15. Pursuant toadecision adopted bytheGeneral Council on15November 1995ontheprocedures
foranannual overview ofWTO activities andforreporting under theWTO (WT/L/105), theTMB
discussed thestructure ofitsreport for1997.
Comprehensive Report under Article 8.11oftheATC
16. TheTMB agreed toissue acorrection toparagraph 223ofitscomprehensive report, inview
ofthefactthatithadbeenbrought toitsattention thattheinvestigation initiated byArgentina under
GATT Article XIX, asmentioned inthisparagraph, hadinadvertently beenincluded inthereport
(G/L/179/Corr.1).
2Seeparagraph 6.
3Seeparagraphs 7and8.
4SeeG/TMB/R/34, paragraph 5.G/TMB/R/36
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Dates oftheNext TMB Meeting
17. TheTMB decided toreschedule itsnextmeeting, previously scheduled for10to12November,
to11to12November 1997.
Schedule ofTMB Meetings for1998
18. Inpursuance ofadecision adopted bytheGeneral Council on15November 1995 onthe
guidelines forscheduling meetings (WT/L/106), theTMB discussed andapproved itstentative schedule
ofmeetings for1998. Meetings arescheduled asfollows: 12to14January; 18to20February;
11to13March; 20to22April; 25to27May; 15to17June; 20to22July; 14to16September;
12to14October; 16to18November; and14to16December.