RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/Q2/VEN/2
26 October 2000
(00-4456)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(A) OF THE AGREEMENT ON
SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
AND THE REASON FOR IT
Replies to Questions Posed by the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY1
to the BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA2
The following communication, dated 17 October 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
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REPLIES BY VENEZUELA TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES REGARDING THE
INVESTIGATION ON IMPORTS OF TYRES
Question
(a) Can the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela provide detailed information on the
procedure pursuant to which the safeguard investigation is being carried out, including in
particular  the modalities for taking part in the investigation, the dates or deadlines for hearings
and written submissions, for the disclosure of findings on injury and the adoption of provisionaland definitive measures.
Introduction
The investigation being conducted by Venezuela on safeguard measures on imports of tyres
was launched by Decision No. ST-S-AP003/00 of 8 March 2000, published in the Official Gazette,
Special Issue No. 5.452 of 24 March 2000, following a request by the entire domestic industry
producing like goods.  The investigation was initiated pursuant to the Decree-Law on Safeguard
Measures and under the terms of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  Accordingly, once the
investigation had started, it was notified to all the parties concerned, including the foreign exportersand/or producers of the products, domestic producers, importers and the diplomatic representatives of
the exporting countries involved.  The product subject to the investigation is "new pneumatic tyres, of
rubber, of a kind used on motor cars (including station wagons and racing cars)", being imported
under Tariff Code 4011.10.00 of the Venezuelan Customs Tariff.
                                                     
1 G/SG/Q2/VEN/1
2 G/SG/N/6/VEN/3G/SG/Q2/VEN/2
Page 2
Participation of the parties concerned
In accordance with Article 25 of the Decree-Law on Safeguard Measures, the applicant,
importers, exporters, foreign producers, governments of the countries involved and any concerned
party may submit their allegations and evidence in writing throughout the investigation.  Similarly,
Article 26 of that Decree provides that the aforementioned persons or their respective legalrepresentatives, whose accreditation must be duly documented, shall have access to all the
information furnished to the authority, except for such information as may be classified as
confidential.  The parties concerned may therefore submit the information, allegations and evidence
that they consider relevant, all throughout the investigation, without any time-limit.  Similarly, there is
no requirement or formality whatsoever for taking part in the investigation, except for stating and
demonstrating an interest in it.
Hearings
As regards the holding of public hearings in the process, Article 24 of the Decree-Law on
Safeguard Measures specifically stipulates the obligation to hold public hearings amongst the parties
concerned in order to be able to compare the various contentions and replies.  As things stand, thepublic hearing has not taken place, although it is expected to be held roughly between the last week of
August and the first week of September this year.  At all events, the invitation to the parties concerned
to attend the hearing will be sent sufficiently in advance.
Preliminary findings and provisional measures
With respect to the deadline for arriving at a finding as to the appropriateness of provisional
measures, Article 30 of the Decree-Law on Safeguard Measures stipulates a period of thirty (30)
working days for taking a preliminary decision on the appropriateness of such measures, in which
case it would be up to the President of the Republic to approve or reject their application.
Definitive findings and definitive measures
With regard to the deadline for arriving at a definitive finding as to the appropriateness of
definitive measures, Article 32 of the Decree-Law on Safeguard Measures stipulates a period of three
(3) months, which may be extended by one (1) month, as from the start of the investigation, for
publishing a definitive technical report on the existence of injury and increased imports.  Once thatdefinitive report has been issued, the Ministers must make recommendations to the President of the
Republic who then has 20 days in which to decide whether or not the definitive measures will be
applied.
Question
(b) Can the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela provide data on the volume and value of total
imports into Venezuela of the product covered  by the investigation since 1995, including a
geographical breakdown per exporting country?G/SG/Q2/VEN/2
Page 3
Imports Under Tariff Item 4011.10.00
1995
Exporter Kg. US$
United States 2,154,587 8,566,561.00
Colombia 546,367 1,818,164.00
Mexico 281,738 781,781.00
Brazil 138,264 458,712.00
South Korea 118,014 362,973.00
France 31,735 174,305.00
Netherlands 25,407 89,904.00
United Kingdom 23,973 79,771.00
Germany 19,304 157,944.00
Spain 14,786 47,800.00
Others 46,145 184,939.00
TOTAL 3,400,320 12,722,854.00
Source:  Central Office of Statistics and Informatics (OCEI).
Imports Under Tariff Item 4011.10.00
1996
Exporter Kg. US$
United States 2,865,506 8,942,472.00
Colombia 724,479 2,176,277.00
Ecuador 211,845 608,604.00
South Korea 209,075 714,706.00
Others 207,700 1,007,845.00
Brazil 115,528 310,326.00
Mexico 102,789 226,323.00
Japan 88,887 325,322.00
Argentina 59,671 199,618.00
Germany 47,668 398,697.00
Peru 43,050 101,207.00
TOTAL 4,676,198 15,011,397.00
Source:  Central Office of Statistics and Informatics (OCEI).
Imports Under Tariff Item  4011.10.00
1997
Exporter Kg. US$
United States 6,277,761 16,852,060.00
Colombia 2,638,646 8,613,901.00
Brazil 1,552,018 4,517,438.00
South Korea 783,242 2,445,985.00
Mexico 447,323 1,227,781.00
Japan 189,901 876,153.00
Canada 73,791 194,064.00
Germany 67,865 356,864.00
Peru 65,415 145,212.00
France 59,797 306,603.00
Others 251,676 823,404.00
TOTAL 12,407,435 36,359,465.00
Source:  Central Office of Statistics and Informatics (OCEI).G/SG/Q2/VEN/2
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Imports Under Tariff Item 4011.10.00.
1998
Exporter Kg. US$
United States 7,586,766 18,572,697.00
Colombia 1,783,905 5,433,105.00
Brazil 1,477,702 4,056,438.00
South Korea 1,205,773 3,401,951.00
Japan 1,043,431 3,483,961.00
Mexico 605,641 1,483,555.00
China, Taiwan 272,747 231,481.00
Ecuador 167,997 625,639.00
France 155,735 657,698.00
Germany 82,127 323,131.00
Others 392,179 1,064,457.00
TOTAL 14,774,003 39,334,113.00
Source:  Central Office of Statistics and Informatics (OCEI).
Imports Under Tariff Item  4011.10.00
1999
Exporter Kg. US$
United States 6,480,094 18,448,363.00
Colombia 2,534,171 7,711,684.00
Japan 2,379,930 7,972,011.00
South Korea 1,992,548 5,531,252.00
France 1,068,656 4,353,594.00
Ecuador 1,036,031 2,537,142.00
Brazil 1,010,176 2,829,845.00
Mexico 566,109 1,430,361.00
Peru 546,905 1,145,365.00
China, Taiwan 178,076 391,346.00
Others 603,757 2,492,785.00
TOTAL 18,396,453 54,843,748.00
Source:  Central Office of Statistics and Informatics (OCEI).
The import figures given above fall under the tariff item 4011.10.00, which covers "new
pneumatic tyres, of rubber, of a kind used on motor cars (including station wagons and racing cars)".Excluded from this tariff item were the sizes imported by domestic tyre manufacturers or not
produced in the country, which meant that of the approximately 200 sizes entering under that tariff
item, only 27 have been considered as products subject to investigation, which means that they are
produced in the country and not imported by domestic manufacturers.  Likewise, at the request of the
domestic tyre manufacturers, imports from the Andean Community of Nations were excluded.  It isworth mentioning, therefore, that according to th e OCEI, for the second half of 1999, the tyres subject
to investigation accounted for 54.93 per cent of total imports under the tariff heading 4011.10.00.
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