./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/Q2/CHN/2
23 September 2003
(03-5028)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  English
QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS OF JAPAN WITH
REGARD TO THE TRANSITIONAL REVIEW
MECHANISM IN CONNECTION WITH PARAGRAPH 18
OF THE PROTOCOL OF ACCESSION OF THE
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
(REGARDING CHINA'S SAFEGUARD MEASURES
ON CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS)
The following communication, dated 19 September 2003, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of Japan.
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1. Japan welcomes that, in the second year after accession, implementation by China of its
commitments on Market Access has progressed and is entering into a cruising phase.  It appreciates
efforts by China for developing and improving necessary regulatory framework and smoothly
implementing phase-in commitments.  In a transitional period of evolving regulations, the importance
of regulatory transparency, predictability, stability and consistency is paramount;  the value of market-
access commitments and the efforts to implement them could be easily clouded out by a shortness of
such elements either in regulations themselves or in their application.  The transitional review
mechanism could be useful for making those transitional efforts more efficient and productive, and itis a pleasure for Japan to contribute to this process.
2. In this context, China is further invited to take the necessary steps to ensure regular and
effective application of public comments proce dures, well-in-advance publication of laws and
regulations, avoidance of abrupt regulatory change, clear-demarcation of departmental
responsibilities, improvement in inter-departmental and central-provincial coordination andconsistency, etc.
3. In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of
China, which states that "China shall provide releva nt information to each subsidiary body in advance
of the review" and in the spirit of cooperation to render the TRM process most efficient and effective,
Japan requests China to provide in advance of the meeting of the Committee on Safeguards responsesand relevant information to the following questions and comments:
(1) With regard to the provisional safeguard measures in May 2002 as well as the definitive
measures in November the same year on certain steel products both taken by the People's
Republic of China, we are not yet satisfied with its explanation on the legality of the measures
provided by the Government of the People's Republic of China at last year's TransitionalReview Mechanism and the bilateral consultations held under Article 12 of the Agreement on
Safeguards.  The Government of Japan will continue to request the Government of the
People's Republic of China to provide a more detailed explanation and its schedule aiming at
totally repealing these measures.G/SG/Q2/CHN/2
Page 2
(2) In particular, in "the Final Result of Investigation on Injury" published in November 2002 by
the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), SETC made a determination that there
exists no injury in some of the products subjec t to the safeguard measures.  However, there is
no decision of the Government of the People's Republic of China to repeal the measures tothese products to date.  In this regard,
(i) Article 6 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Safeguards  provides
that "The State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) shall be responsible for the
investigation and determination of injury".  Also Article 11 of the Regulations  provides
that "MOFTEC and SETC shall, on the basis of objective facts and evidence, determine
whether or not exists a causal link between the increased imports of the productconcerned and the injury to the domestic industry", and Article 16 provides to the same
effect.  Given that the SETC is responsible for making a determination of injury and
that the measures to these products are still retained in spite of the above-mentioned
SETC's determination concerning injury, what is the legal basis under the Regulations
to enable the Government to retain the measures to those measures?
(ii) The measures to those products on which SETC made a determination that there exists
no injury to the domestic industry should be immediately repealed, or otherwise we
would like to know at least the Government 's concrete plans of mitigating the measures
and the concrete schedule aiming at ultimately repealing the measures.
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