. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/N/6/VEN/5
20 November 2001
(01-5888)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(a) OF THE AGREEMENT
ON SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
AND THE REASONS FOR IT
VENEZUELA
The following communication, dated 15 November 2001, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Venezuela.
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The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations Office at Geneva
presents its compliments to the Central Registry of Notifications of the Secretariat of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and herewith notifies it that the Technical Secretariat of the Anti-Dumping and
Subsidies Commission (CASS), by way of Deci sion No. ST-S-AP003/01 of 1 November 2001, has
initiated a safeguards investigation on imports of U se ctions of iron or steel, hot-drawn or extruded, of
a height of between 80 mm and 120 mm, falling under tariff subheading 7216.31.00 of the
Venezuelan Customs Tariff, and of I sections of iron  or steel, hot-drawn or extruded, of a height of
between 80 mm and 140 mm, falling under tariff subheading 7216.32.00 of the Venezuelan Customs
Tariff.
To that effect and in compliance with Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards of the
World Trade Organization, this Permanent Mission hereby encloses the notification of the initiation ofthe respective investigation, in accordance with  the notification format agreed by the WTO
Committee on Safeguards.
Pursuant to Article 12.1(a) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, and taking into account the
model proposed by the Committee on Safeguards (G/SG/N/6, dated 7 February 1995), the Committeeis hereby informed that the competent Venezuelan authority has initiated the following safeguards
investigation:
1. Date of initiation of the investigation :  1 November 2001
1, by means of
Decision No. ST-S-AP003/01 of the Technical Secretariat of the Anti-Dumping andSubsidies Commission.
2. Products subject to the investigation :  U sections of iron or steel, hot-drawn or
extruded, of a height of between 80 mm and 120 mm, falling under tariff subheading
7216.31.00 of the Venezuelan Customs Tariff, and of I sections of iron or steel,hot-drawn or extruded, of a height of between 80 mm and 140 mm, falling under
tariff subheading 7216.32.00 of the Venezuelan Customs Tariff.
                                                     
1 The text of the Decision to open the investigation, No. ST-S-AP003/01 of 25 October 2001, will be
published shortly in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Venezuela.G/SG/N/6/VEN/5
Page 2
3. Reasons for initiation of the investigation :
(i) The investigation was initiated at the request of Siderúrgica del Turbio S.A.
(SIDETUR), given that, as can be gathered from the application, this company
represents the entire domestic industry producing U and I sections of iron or steel ofthe above-mentioned heights.
(ii) The Technical Secretariat of the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission (CASS)
initiated the investigation on the basis of evidence submitted by the applicant in
support of the application.  In this connection, the applicant submitted information
relating to the increased volume of imports of steel sections, corresponding to the
three years prior to the application, supported by official statistical data, as well asinformation on the Venezuelan market share of the contested imports.  Similarly, to
show the injury caused to the domestic industry by these imports, the applicant also
furnished information on its sales, market share, employment, inventories, return on
investment and profits;  likewise it provided evidence in relation to the imminence of
serious injury to the domestic industry producing like goods as a result of the importsunder investigation, indicating in each instance the causal link between the
deterioration in the economic variables of the domestic industry and the current and
potential increase in the contested imports.  Thus, the Technical Secretariat
considered the merits of opening an investigation and found that there was sufficient
evidence of both an increase in imports and the imminence of serious injury as aresult of this increase.
(iii) With regard to the existence of critical circumstances, the applicant submitted the
most recent data in its possession on the increased imports and injury.
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