. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q2/VEN/4 
12 December 2003 
 (03-6581) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT 
ON SAFEGUARDS BEFORE TAKING A PROVISIONAL 
SAFEGUARD MEASURE REFERRED TO 
IN ARTICLE 6 
 
AND 
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2, 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
 
Replies to Questions Posed by the EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
1 
Regarding the Notification from VENEZUELA2 
 
(U & I Sections of Iron or Steel, of a Height Between 80 mm and 120 mm ) 
  
 The following communication, dated 10 December 2003, is being distributed at the request of 
the delegation of Venezuela.  
_______________ 
  
1. Could Venezuela clarify the status of the pro ceedings and the next steps to be taken?  
Why did Venezuela not notify the Anti-Dumpi ng and Subsidies Commission (CASS) final 
technical report under Article 12(1)(b) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards?  Has a final 
decision been taken or, if not, is there any de adline for such a decision?  Will Venezuela publish 
a termination decision? 
2. Could Venezuela confirm that the provisi onal safeguard measures are no longer 
maintained?  Have provisional duties been collected?  Can Venezuela confirm that such duties will be refunded if the case is terminated  and no final measures are imposed? 
 With regard to the first group of questions  seeking clarification on the status of the 
proceedings, the steps the Venezuelan authorities ha ve envisaged, and the failure to notify the final 
technical report under Article 12(1)(b) of th e Agreement on Safeguards, the CASS Technical 
Secretariat completed the final technical report in  March 2003, and transmitted it promptly to the 
Ministries of Production and Trade, and the Ministry of Finance.  The ministers responsible for these 
portfolios have already prepared their respectiv e final recommendation to the President of the 
Republic, which should be presented to him in the Counc il of Ministers in order for a final decision to 
be taken on the matter.  Under Venezuelan law, th e President of the Republic should, within 20 work 
days, hand down a decision on the matter by decree, whic h is to be published in the Official Journal of 
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  In that regard , we wish to point out that in Venezuela there is 
                                                     
 
1 G/SG/Q2/VEN/3. 
2 G/SG/N/7/VEN/1-G/SG/N/11/VEN /1 and G/SG/N/7/VEN/1/Suppl.1-G/SG/N/11/VEN/1/Suppl.1. G/SG/Q2/VEN/4 
Page 2  
 
 no erosion of decision-making competence, and that  domestic legislation does not contain provisions 
on negative administrative silence in this regard.   By the same token, it must be stressed that from the technical point of view, the decision of the deciding authority, the President of the Republic in the Council of Ministers, is discretionary to 
the extent that the provisional technical repor t confirms the fulfilment of basic requirements 
(increased imports, injury or threat thereof to th e domestic industry, and causal link), which did not 
occur in this case.  Venezuela did not notify the final technical report under Article 12(1)(b) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, since this Article requi res such action when seri ous injury or a threat 
thereof caused by increased imports is found.  In this specific case, the CASS Technical Secretariat 
had not made any such determination. 
  With regard to the second group of questi ons, which asks for confirmation that provisional 
safeguard measures are no longer maintained, we have been informed by Venezuela's National 
Integrated Customs and Tax Administration Servi ce (SENIAT) that the provisional measure was 
applied only during the statutory period of 200 da ys.  The Venezuelan authorities refund duties 
collected during the period in which a provisional me asure is applied, but this is not the case for 
definitive safeguard measures.  
__________