WORLD TRADE G/TMB/R/37
18December 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-5578)
Textiles Monitoring Body
REPORT OFTHE THIRTY-EIGHTH MEETING
1. TheTextiles Monitoring Body helditsthirty-eighth meeting on11and12November 1997.
2. Mr.Malik appointed MissCristina Morais (Macau) toreplace Mr.HouIunLam(Macau) as
hisalternate.
3. Present atthismeeting were thefollowing members and/or alternates: Mr.Abdel Aziz
Mohammed; Mrs. Berrig/Mr. Tadpitakkul; Mrs. Dwarka-Canabady; Messrs. Kim; Kobayashi;
Miss Morais; Miss Orozco Jaramillo/Mr. DaCosta; Messrs. Richards; Tagliani; Urkan/Varga;
Wentzel/Moroz.
4. TheTMB adopted thereport ofitsthirty-seventh meeting (G/TMB/R/36).
Notifications under Articles 2.6and2.7(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 HS6-digit lines(G/TMB/R/29, paragraphs 43to45).
6. TheTMB tooknoteofthecommunications made byColombia (G/TMB/N/232/Add.1 and
Add.1/Suppl.1), related tothenotification ofitssecond stage integration, inwhich itprovided the
description andimport volume ofthetarifflinesoftheNABANDINA nomenclature thatithadapplied
in1990, corresponding tothe"exHSlines" contained initssecond stage integration. Colombia
explained thattheseproducts corresponded toproducts covered bytheATC, sinceinonecasethetariff
linewasidentical totheproduct description oftheATC, andinthesecond casethetarifflineintegrated
corresponded tocontinuous glass fibres.
7. TheTMB tooknoteofthecommunications made bySwitzerland (G/TMB/N/50/Add.1 and
Add.2 andG/TMB/N/206/Add.1, Add.2 andAdd.3) related tothenotifications ofitsfirstandsecond
stages ofintegration. Switzerland ’sintegration programmes forbothstages contained products
corresponding tothe"exHSlines" intheAnnex totheATC. Switzerland stated, interalia,thatin
theabsence ofmore detailed statistics thanthose submitted totheTMB, theSwiss Customs Services
werenotinaposition toestimate theportions ofproducts inthe"exHSlines" thatmaynotbecovered
bytheATC. However, Switzerland considered thatitwould beunreasonable andcontrary totheATC
tosuggest thatintheabsence ofdetailed statistics forthe"exHSlines" concerned, thevolume ofthe
6-digit linesinquestion should simply bededucted fromthetotalvolume considered bySwitzerland
indetermining theproducts tobeintegrated under Articles 2.6and2.8oftheATC. Switzerland,
therefore, considered thatthetotalvolume of1990 imports oftheproducts intheATC Annex as
previously notified should remain unchanged. However, Switzerland revised itsnotifications under
Articles 2.6and2.7(b), aswellas2.8(a) and2.11. With respect tothefirststage ofintegration andG/TMB/R/37
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alsoinviewofthesystemic consequences ofwithdrawing certain tarifflinesfromthatstage’sintegration
programme aftertheproducts inquestion hadbeenintegrated, Switzerland haddecided tointegrate
inthefirstphase, inaddition totheproducts already integrated, HSlines5402.33, 5402.43, 5402.52,
5407.10, 5407.20 and5509.11, representing 2.25percentofthetotalvolume of1990imports. This
waswithout prejudice toanylegalinterpretation which might begiven oftheaposteriori integration
ofthese tariff linesinSwitzerland ’sfirststage ofintegration, andhadbeendoneinorder torespond
aspractically andasconstructively aspossible totheconcerns ofcertain WTO Members andofthe
TMB. Inthisregard, theTMB observed thatevenifthe"exHSlines" contained intheintegration
programme forStage 1were notcounted, theprogramme asmodified amounted tonolessthan
16percentofthetotalvolume ofSwitzerland ’s1990 imports oftheproducts intheAnnex. With
respect toitsintegration programme forthesecond stage, Switzerland amended itsoriginal notification
bywithdrawing thefive"exHSlines" ithadcontained (these linesamounted to13percentofthe
totalvolume of1990imports andwould bereintroduced forintegration attheverylaststage) andadding
toit24other HSlines(representing 12.29 percentofthetotalvolume of1990 imports). Thus, the
share oftheproducts integrated inthesecond stage amounted to17.001 percentofthetotalvolume
of1990 imports oftheproducts intheAnnex.
8. TheTMB tooknoteofacommunication byPoland (G/TMB/N/53/Add.2) related tothe
notification ofitsfirststage ofintegration, inwhich Poland stated thatsince statistics onimports of
theproducts intheAnnex totheATC hadnotbeenavailable atalevel detailed enough tomake a
distinction between theATC covered andnon-covered products, thestatistical information provided
byPoland referred tothewhole HS6-digit subheadings concerned andnotonlytothatportion ofthe
respective HSlinecovered bytheATC. TheTMB observed, however, thatevenifalltheimports
ofthe"exHSlines" contained inthefirststageintegration programme werenotcounted inthevolume
ofimports integrated, itwould stillamount tonotlessthan16percentofthetotalvolume ofPoland ’s
1990 imports oftheproducts intheAnnex, asenvisaged inArticle 2.6.
9. TheTMB insome cases started, andinother cases reverted toitsconsideration oftherelevant
communications received fromtheDominican Republic, Guatemala, Poland (Stage 2),Slovenia, South
Africa andThailand.
Notification under Articles 2.8(a) and2.11oftheATC
10. TheTMB reviewed under Article 2.21thenotification made, pursuant toArticles 2.8(a) and
2.11, bySwitzerland (G/TMB/N/206 andAdd.1, Add.2 andAdd.3). During thisreview1theTMB
noted that,inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), thevolume oftheproducts integrated amounted to
17.001 percentofthevolume ofimports in1990 oftheproducts falling under thecoverage ofthe
Agreement.TheTMBalsonotedthat,inaccordancewithArticle2.8(a),theproductsintegratedincluded
products fromeachofthefourgroups: topsandyarns, fabrics, made-up textile products andclothing.
11. TheTMB reviewed under Article 2.21thenotification made, pursuant toArticles 2.8(a) and
2.11, byColombia (G/TMB/N/232, Corr.1, Add.1 andAdd.1/Suppl.1). During thisreview2theTMB
noted that,inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), thevolume oftheproducts integrated amounted to
17.21 percentofthevolume ofimports in1990 oftheproducts falling under thecoverage ofthe
Agreement.TheTMBalsonotedthat,inaccordancewithArticle2.8(a),theproductsintegratedincluded
products fromeachofthefourgroups: topsandyarns, fabrics, made-up textile products andclothing.
1Seealsoparagraph 7.
2Seealsoparagraph 6.G/TMB/R/37
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12. TheTMB reviewed under Article 2.21thenotification made, pursuant toArticles 2.8(a) and
2.11, byElSalvador (G/TMB/N/236, Add.1 andCorr.1). During thisreview theTMB noted that,
inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), thevolume oftheproducts integrated amounted to17.03 percent
ofthevolume ofimports in1990 oftheproducts falling under thecoverage oftheAgreement. The
TMB alsonoted that,inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), theproducts integrated included products from
eachofthefourgroups: topsandyarns, fabrics, made-up textile products andclothing.
13. TheTMB reviewed under Article 2.21thenotification made, pursuant toArticles 2.8(a) and
2.11, bytheSlovak Republic (G/TMB/N/247, Corr.1 andCorr.2). During thisreview theTMB noted
that,inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), thevolume oftheproducts integrated amounted to17.77 percent
ofthevolume ofimports in1993 oftheproducts falling under thecoverage oftheAgreement. The
TMB alsonoted that,inaccordance withArticle 2.8(a), theproducts integrated included products from
eachofthefourgroups: topsandyarns, fabrics, made-up textile products andclothing.
Report (1997) bytheTextiles Monitoring Body
14. TheTMB considered andadopted itsreport for1997 (G/L/206), prepared inpursuance of
adecision adopted bytheGeneral Council on15November 1995, ontheprocedures foranannual
overview ofWTO activities andforreporting under theWTO (WT/L/105).
Implementation oftheProvisions ofArticle 2.18fortheSecond Stage oftheATC
15. TheTMB decided torequest fromtherelevant Members information ontheirimplementation
oftheprovisions ofArticle 2.18during thesecond stage oftheAgreement.