WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/N/6/BGR/6
30 April 2003
(03-2305)
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
BULGARIA
The following communication, dated 24 April 2003, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Bulgaria.
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With reference to Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards, please find attached a
notification of the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Committee on Safeguards on the
initiation of investigation relating to imports of various products of iron and steel classified under
tariff Nos. 7217 and 7317.G/SG/N/6/BGR/6
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Pursuant to Article 12.1(a) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and taking into account the
suggested format for notifications under that Arti cle (G/SG/N/6), the Republic of Bulgaria hereby
notifies that its competent authority has initiated an investigatory process, as follows:
1. Date of initiation of the investigation
Upon proposal by the Inter-Agency Commissi on on Safeguards Measures on Imports of
Products in the Republic of Bulgaria, the Minister of Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria issued an
Ordinance No. RD-16-59 dated 31 March 2003 on initiation of investigation.
The respective announcement pursuant to Article 3 of the Agreement on Safeguards and
Article 4(7) of Regulation No. 300 of the Council of Ministers of 16 December 1996 (notified in
WTO document G/SG/N/1/BGR/1) was published in State Gazette No. 33 on 11 April 2003.
The time-limit for declaring a participation in the investigation, submitting written statements
and information to be considered in the investigation, is 30 days after the publication of the
announcement in State Gazette.
Interested parties are invited to submit evidence for a period of 30 days from the date of the
publication of the announcement in State Gazette.
2. Products subject to the above investigation
Tariff No. Description
7217 10 39 0
7217 20 30 0
7217 10 31 0
7217 30 31 0
7217 90 30 0Wire of iron or non-alloy steel
7317 00 20 0
7317 00 40 0
7317 00 61 0
7317 00 69 0Nails, tacks, drawing pins, corrugated nails,
staples and similar articles, of iron or steel
3. Reasons for initiation of the investigation procedure
(i) The investigation procedure was initiated pursuant to a petition from the Bulgarian producer –
 Zhiti Corp., constituting a major proportion of the total domestic production of the product
concerned.
(ii) Evidence on the basis of which the investigation was initiated:
The competent authority has found that there is an increase in the imports of the products
subject to investigation.  The increased imports of the above-mentioned products caused changes in
the structure of the domestic market and the market share of the imported products increased.  For the
period 1999-2001 the market share of the domestic products decreased 2.5 times.
The capacity utilization of the Bulgarian producer varies for the different products from
35 per cent to 50 per cent in 2001.G/SG/N/6/BGR/6
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4. Additional information
Further information with respect to the investigation may be submitted to or can be obtained
from the competent authority at the following address:
Inter-agency Commission on Safeguard Measures on
Imports of Products in the Republic of Bulgaria
Sector Analysis Directorate
Ministry of Economy
8, Slavyanska Str.
1000 Sofia
Bulgaria
Tel.: (+359 2) 940 7581
Fax: (+359 2) 980 5109
e-mail: SRAnalizi@mi.government.bg
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