WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/475
17 September 2001
(01-4370)
REPORT (2001) OF THE TE XTILES MONI TORING BODY
1. This report is presented by the Textiles Monitoring Body (TMB) pursuant to the decision
adopted by the General Council on 15 November 1995 on the procedures for an annual overview of
WTO activities and for reporting under the WTO (WT/L/105).
2. Since the adoption of its Report (2000) (G/L/398), i.e. 10 October 2000, and up to
14 September 2001, the TMB has held 12 meetings.  The detailed reports of these meetings are
contained in G/TMB/R/70 to 81.1  The TMB also adopted on 20 July 2001, pursuant to Article 8.11 of
the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), a comprehensive report on the implementation of the
ATC during the second stage of the integration process (G/L/459).  This comprehensive report, which
was submitted to the Council for Trade in Goods in  order to assist in its major review of the
implementation of the ATC, covers in detail, inter alia , all the notifications which were reviewed or
the issues that were addressed by the TMB during the reporting period, with the exception of those
reported in G/TMB/R/81.
3. The present report does not go into the details of the activities of the TMB during the period
covered but rather consists of an inventory of the work carried out by the TMB.
Notification under Article 2.1 of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC): Quantitative
Restrictions Notified Following the Accession of a New Member
4. The TMB took note of an addition made by the United States to its notification under
Article 2.1, following Oman’s accession to the WTO.  This notification was made pursuant to the
provisions of Oman’s Protocol of Accession to the WTO, in which it is stated, inter alia , that "the
quantitative restrictions on imports of textiles and clothing products originating in Oman between
Oman and WTO members that were in force on the day prior to the date of accession of Oman to theWTO should be notified to the Textiles Monitori ng Body (TMB) by the Member maintaining such
restrictions and would be applied for the purpose of Article 2 of the Agreement on Textiles and
Clothing" (G/TMB/R/74).
Notification under Articles 2.6 and 2.7(b) of the ATC:  First Stage of Integration into GATT
1994 of Products Covered by the ATC by Members which have, Pursuant to Article 6.1,Retained the Right to Use the Provisions of Article 6
5. The TMB reviewed under Article 2.21 the notification made, pursuant to Articles 2.6 and
2.7(b), by Estonia (G/TMB/R/76).
                                                     
1 G/TMB/R/81 will be issued later, upon its adoption by the TMB.G/L/475
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Notification under Articles 2.8(a) and 2.11 of the ATC:  Second Stage of Integration into GATT
1994 of Products Covered by the ATC
6. The TMB reviewed under Article 2.21 the notification made, pursuant to Articles 2.8(a) and
2.11, by Estonia (G/TMB/R/76).
Notifications under Articles 2.8(b) and 2.11 of the ATC:  Third Stage of Integration into GATT
1994 of Products Covered by the ATC
7. The TMB reviewed under Article 2.21 the notifications made, pursuant to Articles 2.8(b) and
2.11, by Hungary, India and Japan (G/TMB/R/72), Brazil, Colombia, Pakistan, Panama, Romania,
Slovenia  and Switzerland (G/TMB/R/73), Argen tina, Costa Rica, the European Community, Korea,
Latvia, Liechtenstein, Norway, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Uruguay (G/TMB/R/74), the
Czech Republic, Mauritius and Turkey (G/TMB/R/75), the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Indonesia,
Malta and the United States (G/TMB/R/76), Canada  and Peru (G/TMB/R/77) , Poland (G/TMB/R/79),
Cyprus, El Salvador and Tunisia (G/TMB/R/81).
8. The TMB started its review under Article 2.21 of the programmes of integration notified
pursuant to Articles 2.8(b) and 2.11 by Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
the Slovak Republic and Thailand and decided to revert to its review of these programmes at a
subsequent meeting, once further information or clarification is received from the respective WTOMembers.  In the meantime, in pursuance of Article 2.11, the TMB has circulated these notifications
to WTO Members.
Notification under Article 2.15 of the ATC:  Elimin ation of Restrictions Maintained Pursuant to
Article 2
9. The TMB took note of a notification made, pursuant to Article 2.15, by Canada, which stated
that Canada would remove the restraints on baby garments of category 17, effective 1 January 2002.
The Member affected by the removal from restraint of baby garments of category 17 was Korea.
Canada further stated that it would not be reducing the category 17 restraint level of this Member to
account for the removal of baby garments fr om restraint, thereby providing a further de facto  increase
in access for it to the Canadian market, and that as a result of the action under Article 2.15, allremaining restraints on baby apparel would be eliminated by 1 January 2002 (G/TMB/R/79).
Notification under Article 2.17 of the ATC:  Administrative Arrangements
10. The TMB reviewed, pursuant to Article 2.21, the notification made by the United States of
the administrative arrangements concluded between the United States and Oman (G/TMB/R/78).
Notification under Article 3.2(b) of the ATC: Progressive Phase out of Restrictions Not Justified
Under a GATT 1994 Provision
11. The TMB considered and took note of a notification received from Japan pursuant to
Article 3.2(b), regarding the progressive phase-out of the measures notified by Japan under
Article 3.1, affecting the importation of silk yarn  and silk fabric from Korea (G/TMB/R/76).
Notifications under Article 6.1 of the ATC
12. The TMB took note of the notifications made pursuant to Article 6.1 by Estonia and Lithuania
that they wished to retain the right to use th e transitional safeguard provided for in Article 6.1
(G/TMB/R/76 and G/TMB/R/81).G/L/475
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Observation with Respect to Late Notifications
13. With respect to notifications addressed to the TMB after the relevant deadlines, the TMB
reiterated that its taking note of late notifications was without prejudice to the legal status of such
notifications.
Notification under Article 6.10: Transitional Safeguard Measure Referred to the TMB
14. The TMB conducted the examination of a safeguard measure introduced by Poland, pursuant
to Article 6.10, on imports of certain yarns of acrylic or modacrylic staple fibres from Romania.  The
TMB concluded that Poland had not demonstrated that the yarns subject to its safeguard measure were
being imported into its territory in the reference peri od in such increased quantities as to cause serious
damage to its domestic industry producing like and/or directly competitive products.  The TMB
recommended, therefore, that Poland rescind the transitional safeguard measure introduced on imports
of acrylic/modacrylic staple yarn, pure or mixed with wool or fine hair (HS numbers 5509 31, 550932 and 5509 61) from Romania (G/TMB/25 and G/TMB/R/81).
Joint Communication by Pakistan and the United States
15. The TMB reverted to the joint communication received from Pakistan and the United States
in September 2000, in which the two Members "refer  to the request made by the TMB to our two
governments contained in G/TMB/R/45 that we re-examine issues related to the Memorandum ofUnderstanding signed by representatives of our two governments on March 22, 1996".  According to
the communication, a new Memorandum of Understa nding (MOU) signed on 25 May 2000, attached
to the communication, "reflects the results of this re-examination and constitutes a mutually
satisfactory solution of the issues related to Articles 4 and 5 of the ATC contained in the
Memorandum of Understanding dated March 22, 1996".  The TMB decided to put specific questionsto both parties with respect to their joint communication and the new MOU, so as to be in a position
to determine, as required, the conformity, or lack  thereof, of the notified measures with the ATC.
These questions are detailed in the report of the respective meeting (G/TMB/R/71).
Comprehensive Report under Article 8.11 of the ATC
16. The TMB devoted part of several meetings to the preparation and adoption of its
comprehensive report to the Council for Trade in Goods on the implementation of the ATC during its
second stage, envisaged in Article 8.11 of the ATC (G/TMB/R/71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79 and
G/TMB/R/80). In this context, the TMB decided in February 2001 to remind WTO Members of some
of the notification requirements contained in the ATC, regarding which only a few or no notifications
had been received, and also to seek additional information and comments from the Members which
they consider relevant in the context of the TMB’s preparation of its comprehensive report
(G/TMB/R/73). The TMB also decided to send to WTO Members, in the early part of April 2001, areminder of this request for information (G/TMB/R/79).  The replies received from Members to this
request, and also to subsequent specific requests for further information and comments, had been
taken into consideration in the relevant sections of the comprehensive report.  The TMB further
decided to request the WTO Secretariat to provide Members with background statistical information
with respect to trade in textiles and clothing, in  time for the major review to be conducted by the
Council for Trade in Goods, pursuant to Articl e 8.11, before the end of 2001 (G/TMB/R/76).  This
document was issued and circulated to Members  on 12 September 2001 (G/L/474).
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