. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/Q2/USA/7
17 November 1999
(99-4998)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  English
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.1(C)
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.1(C) AND ARTICLE 9,
FOOTNOTE 2, OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS
Questions Posed by the EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Regarding the Notification of the UNITED STATES1
The following communication, dated 12 November 1999, has been received from the
Permanent Delegation of the European Commission.
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On 28 May 1999, the President of the United States issued a Proclamation deciding to take
action «in the form of a reduction in the European Community‘s 1999/2000 wheat gluten quota
allotment in the amount of 5,204,000 kg, which represents the amount of wheat gluten that entered the
United States in excess of the European Community’s 1998 quota allocation».  No reasoned
justification of this reduction is given other than indicating that imports from the EC entered in excess
of the 1998 allocated amount.  Furthermore, no explanation of the cause of the alleged excess isgiven.
Subsequently, the reduction of the EC’s quota allotment was notified to the WTO Committee
on Safeguards and distributed to Members on 9 June 1999 (G/SG/ N/10/USA/2/Suppl.1 -
G/SG/N/11/USA/2/Supp.1), indicatin g that the «European Community overfilled its allocated quota
for the first year of the safeguards measure (1 June 1998 to 31 May 1999) by about 5,950,000 kg.  Inorder to maintain the overall amount of the quantitative restriction and to reflect the first year overage,
the quota allocation for the EC will be adjusted by 5,950,000 kg for the second year of the measure
(1 June 1999 to 31 May 2000)».  No explanation on the cause of the overfill is given and no WTO
provision justifying the reduction of the EC’s quota for the year 1999/2000 is mentioned as the legal
basis.
Over three months later, the United States issued a corrigendum to this notification
(G/SG/N/10/USA/2/Suppl.1/Corr.1-G/SG/N/ 11/USA/2/Suppl.1/Corr.1), distributed on
21 September 1999, indicating that «[T]he amount of wheat gluten the product of the European
Communities entering the United States in excess of the European Community’s allocated quota for
the first year of the safeguard measure […] was 4,402,000 kg and not 5,950,000 kg […].  In order tomaintain the overall level of the quantitative restriction and to reflect the first year average [ sic], the
United States adjusted the quota allocation for the European Communities by 5,402,000 kg for the
second year of the measure[…]."
                                                     
1 G/SG/N/10/USA/2/Suppl.1-G/SG/N/11/USA/1/Suppl.1 + Corr.1G/SG/Q2/USA/7
Page 2
1. Could the US give detailed information and data on, and provide a copy of the published
report, on the basis of which the above-mentioned Presidential Proclamation, which proceeds to a
reduction in the European Community‘s 1999/2000 wheat gluten quota allotment, was adopted.
2. Could the US provide full information on the circumstances leading to this alleged "overfill"
of the quota?
3. Could the US indicate on the basis of which provision of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards
it based the decision to reduce the EC’s 1999/2000 quota allotment, in particular in the light of the
obligation contained in Article 7.4 of the Agreement on Safeguards to «progressively liberalise [the
measure] at regular intervals during the period of application»?
4. Could the US clarify why the quota allocation for the EC was cut by 5,402,000 kg for the
1999/2000 quota year, if the amount of wheat gluten originating in the EC entering in excess of the
allocation for the first quota year has been confirmed by the US to be 4,402,000 kg?
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