. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/Q2/POL/2
28 August 2003
(03-4495)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  English
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(A) OF THE AGREEMENT
ON SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
AND THE REASONS FOR IT
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT
ON SAFEGUARDS BEFORE TAKING A PROVISIONAL
SAFEGUARD MEASURE REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 6
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.1(C)
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS
Replies to Questions Posed by MEXICO1
Regarding the Notifications of POLAND2
The following communication, dated 25 August 2003, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Poland.
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Mexico would like to ask the Government of Poland the following questions relating to
the application of a definitive measure to imports of certain steel products (G/SG/N/6/POL/4,
G/SG/N/7/POL/1 and G/SG/N/10/POL/1), as a follow-up to those asked at the October 2002meeting.
1. Why was Mexico not considered to be a develo ping country, in spite of the fact that, on
the basis of the principle of self-denomination, it  considers itself as such (see Mexico's Protocol
of Accession to the WTO) and is also recognized as such by other multilateral bodies, forexample, the World Bank?
2. According to the official information furnis hed by the Government of Poland, Mexico,
in addition to being a developing country pursuant to point 1 above, did not export during the
period of investigation.
3. In view of the above, would the Government of Poland please explain why Mexico was
not exempted from application of the measure under Article 9.1 of the Agreement on
Safeguards.
In this respect, Mexico wishes to express its concern that some Members should use
criteria other than those of the WTO for the purposes of exclusion under Article 9.1 of the
Agreement on Safeguards. It also wishes to clar ify that the fact that Mexico is an Organisation
                                                     
1 G/SG/Q2/POL/1
2 G/SG/N/6/POL/4, G/SG/N/7/POL/1 and G/SG/N/10/POL/1G/SG/Q2/POL/2
Page 2
for Economic Cooperation and Development member country does not alter its developing
country status.
Reply
Referring to the questions posed by Mexico concerning some aspects of imposition by the
Polish authorities of the definitive safeguard measures on imports of certain steel products, we would
like to clarify the following issues:
1. The criteria for recognition of a given country as a developing one are not provided for in the
WTO law.  In that respect the self-determination rule is not deemed to be binding.  Therefore
countries use different methodologies to determine whether a given country falls into thecategory of developing countries (for example the GSP list).
2. Under the Polish law the status of developing country is granted to non-European countries or
customs territories which have the Gross Domestic Product per capita lower than that in
Poland.  The list of the developing countries established according to the above-mentionedrule is included in the Polish Customs Duty Tariff.  The basis for comparison of GDP per
capita is the information provided in UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics for the latest available
year.  According to the latest data (year 2000) PKB per capita in Mexico amounted to
US$5,811 while in Poland only to US$4,086.
3. The obligation to be in conformity with our domestic law, which in this respect does not
violate the international law, excluded the possibility to treat Mexico as a developing country
at the time of imposition of the safeguard measures, despite the fact that imports from Mexico
during the period of investigation had not exceeded the 3 per cent threshold referred to in the
Safeguard Agreement.
4. Taking into account the non-binding character of self-determination rule, Poland would like
to point out that the status of Mexico as a developing country referred to in the preamble to
the Protocol of Accession of Mexico to the GATT refers only to the time of accession i.e. to
1986 ("present status").  The economic situation in Mexico has changed significantly since
that date.
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