RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/LIC/W/4
24September 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-3793)
Committee onImport Licensing
DRAFT
REPORT OFTHE COMMITTEE ONIMPORT LICENSING
TOTHE COUNCIL FOR TRADE INGOODS
A. Background
1. TheAgreement onImport Licensing Procedures (theAgreement) entered intoforce on
1January 1995. Thisreport addresses thework undertaken bytheCommittee onImport Licensing
(theCommittee) during 1995 and1996 inrespect oftheimplementation oftheAgreement.
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, [26]Members (theEuropean Communities anditsmember States counted asone)
have notified their legislation and/or publications pursuant toArticles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b) ofthe
Agreement; [22]Members havesubmitted replies totheQuestionnaire onImport Licensing Procedures
pursuant toArticle 7.3;[seven] Members 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 orhavenolawsorG/LIC/W/4
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regulations relevant totheAgreement werealsorequested tonotify theCommittee ofthisfactsothat
acomplete picture canbeobtained. TheAnnex reflects thecurrent status ofnotifications.
8. Onthebasis ofnotifications submitted byMembers under Articles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b), the
CommitteereviewedlawsandregulationsrelevanttoimportlicensingapplicableinArgentina,Australia,
Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, theEuropean Communities, Hong
Kong, Jamaica, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Swaziland,
Turkey, Uganda, Uruguay andZimbabwe.
9. Based onreplies totheQuestionnaire (Article 7.3),itreviewed import licensing andsimilar
administrative procedures maintained byArgentina, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Peru,
Romania, Trinidad andTobago, Turkey, Uruguay andtheUnited States.
10. TheCommittee further reviewed notifications relating totheinstitution ofimport licensing
procedures orchanges intheseprocedures submitted byArgentina, theEuropean Communities, 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/M/4).
13. TheCommittee noted aproposal bytheChairman thatallimport licensing procedures, including
those dealing withtheadministration ofagricultural tariffquotas, should benotified totheCommittee
onImport Licensing andthatanyproblems thatmight ariserelating toduplication oroverlapping of
notifications should betaken upattheWorking Group onNotification Obligations andProcedures
(G/LIC/M/2).
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/M/4).
C. Conclusions andRecommendations
17. Theimplementation oftheAgreement hasproceeded atanormal pace. TheCommittee
established itsRules ofProcedure, agreed onprocedures fornotification andbiennial reviews, reached
anunderstanding onreview procedures ingeneral todealwithqueries byMembers inrespect of
notifications,andreviewedlaws,regulationsandimportlicensingproceduresonthebasisofnotifications
received.G/LIC/W/4
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18. TheCommittee recognizing theimportance ofnotifications fortheeffective functioning of
theAgreement,andnotingthepaucityofmandatorynotificationsreceivedsofar,recommendsadherence
byMembers tothese obligations.G/LIC/W/4
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ANNEX
(i) Notifications oflegislation and/or publications (Articles 1.4(a) and/or 8.2(b)) received from:
(26) (G/LIC/N/1/- series)
Argentina EC Pakistan
Australia Hong Kong Peru
Barbados Jamaica Romania
Canada Japan Swaziland
Chile Malta Turkey
Colombia Mauritius Uganda
Costa Rica Morocco Uruguay
Cuba NewZealand Zimbabwe
Cyprus Nicaragua
(ii) Replies totheQuestionnaire onImport Licensing Procedures (Article 7.3)received from:
(22) (G/LIC/N/3/- series)
Argentina Cyprus Nigeria
Australia Ecuador Norway
Barbados Hong Kong Peru
Canada India Romania
Chile Malta Trinidad &Tobago
Colombia Mauritius Turkey
Costa Rica Morocco United States
Uruguay
(iii) Notifications ofinstitution ofimport licensing procedures orchanges therein (Article 5)received
from: (7)(G/LIC/N/2/- series)
Argentina Nigeria
EC Pakistan
Japan Romania
Malaysia
(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)