G/SG/Q1/LBR/1  
 
4 April 2018 
(18-2050) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Safeguards  
 Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAW S AND REGULATIONS UN DER 
ARTICLE  12.6 OF THE AGREEMEN T 
QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES  
REGARDING THE NOTIFI CATION OF  LIBERIA1 
The following communication, dated 3 April 2018, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the United States.  
 
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The United States thanks Liberia for its notificati on of Regulation C/REG.4/06/13 r elating to 
Safeguard Measures (hereinafter Regulation ) and poses the following questions:  
 
Question 1  
 
Article 2 of the regulation stat es that "{t}he objective of the saf eguard measures under 
paragraph  1 is to protect a specific community industry against increased imports of any product 
which is causing or threatening cause a serious injury to the said industry." Please explain how this 
is consistent with the wording in Article 17 of the Regulation  and also with Articles 5.1 and 7.1 of 
the Safeguards Agreement, which read, in part: "{a}  Member shall apply safeguard measures only 
to the extent necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment;" and 
"{a} Member shall apply safeguard measures only for such period of time as may be necessary to 
prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment. T he period shall not exceed 
four years, unless it is extended u nder paragraph  2." 
 
Question 2  
 
The Regulation  does not seem to clarify the process by which an investigation is initiated. 
Therefore, please explain the following:  
 
a. Whether an investigation can be initiated only on the basis of a petition or complaint fil ed 
on behalf of an industry, such as by a group of firms in the industry, a trade association 
representing a group of firms in the industry, or by a group of workers in the industry or 
trade union representing such workers?  
 
b. Assuming that a petition or complaint may serve as a starting point, whether the petition 
or complaint must be filed on behalf of firms and/or workers in each of the Member states 
in which there is production of the domestic product.  
 
c. Whether certain government officials, by virtue o f their office, are authorized to direct the 
Commission to conduct an investigation with regard to a specific imported product.  
 
d. Whether the Commission can self - initiate an investigation in the absence of a petition or 
complaint or a request from an authorized government official.  
 
e. The information that the Commission requires and criteria it uses in deciding whether to 
initiate an investigation and whether the Commission can decline to initiate a requested 
                                                
1 G/SG/N/1/LBR/1 (dated 1 December 2017).  G/SG/Q1/LBR/1  
 
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  investigation if, for example, it concludes t hat the petition, complaint, or request does not 
contain required information or set out a basis for initiating an investigation.  
 
Question 3  
 
Article 5a of the Regulation  states "{t}hese safeguard measures shall be applicable on the 
Community territory a s much as necessary…". Please clarify whether the use of the phrase "as 
much as necessary" is referring to a physical description of the area of ECOWAS in which the 
potential safeguard would be applied, or the type and level of remedy that would be applied . 
 
Question 4  
 
Article 5c of the Regulation  notes that safeguard measures may be applied as a single unit or on 
behalf of a member State.  
 
a. Please clarify whether the investigating authority and investigation process would be the 
same in determining whether  a safeguard measure would be applied as a single unit or on 
behalf of a member State.  
 
b. If a safeguard measure is imposed on behalf of a single member State, would the imports 
from other ECOWAS members into that single member State be subject to safeguard 
measures?  
 
Question 5  
 
Has ECOWAS yet issued the regulation to create a Council of Ministers cited in Article 9 of the 
Regulation ? If not, when will the regulation be issued? If so, when will the regulation be notified to 
the WTO Committee on Safeguards?  
 
Question 6  
 
Article 10 of the Regulation  notes that the Commission, when examining a threat of serious injury, 
shall examine:  
 
a. The rate of increase in exports to the Community;  
 
b. The export capacity of the country of origin or export as it stands or is likely to be in the 
foreseeable future and the likelihood that exports generated by this capacity shall be used 
for exports to the community.  
 
Will the Commission also examine the factors outlined in Article 4.2 of the WTO Agreement on 
Safeguards in determ ining whether there is a threat of serious injury?  
 
Question 7  
 
Article 13 of the Regulation  states "{i}nformation received by the Commission or gathered from 
the investigation procedure shall be confidential."  
 
 Please clarify whether all information submi tted by interested parties will be considered 
confidential or whether parties must request that information be treated as confidential.  
 
 If all information submitted by interested parties will be designated as confidential, please 
explain how such a requir ement is consistent with Article 3.2 of the Safeguards 
Agreements, which states that information may be treated as confidential "upon cause 
being shown," and also how interested parties will be able to respond to the presentations 
of other parties as provi ded for in Article 3.1 of the WTO Safeguards Agreement?  
 
 If interested parties must request confidential treatment of submitted information, please 
describe the types of information that will be provided confidential treatment.  
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   Please clarify whether inte rested parties submitting information for which confidential 
treatment is requested must also provide a non -confidential summary of the confidential 
information, as required by Article 3.2 of the Safeguards Agreement.  
 
 Please explain how interested partie s will be able to access non -confidential information 
and non -confidential summaries of confidential information.  
 
Question 8  
 
Article 14 of the Regulation  states "{t}he Commission shall publish a Notice informing Member 
States of the initiation of an inv estigation within 45 days of receiving the information."  
 
a. Please indicate whether the intent here is to publish a notice with 45 days stating whether 
the Commission has decided to initiate or not to initiate an investigation.  
 
b. This article could be read to  mean that the Commission will notify only the Member States 
and not the general public, including importers, exporters, and other interested parties. 
Please indicate whether and how Liberia will provide the "reasonable public notice to all 
interested part ies" required by Article 3.1 of the Safeguards Agreement . 
 
c. Please indicate whether the publication date is the official starting date of the investigation 
or whether that date would occur earlier. If earlier, how much earlier?  
 
d. Please indicate whether the  public notice will include associated timelines, including 
deadlines for requesting permission to participate in the proceeding and deadlines for 
submitting information.  
 
e. Please indicate how such public notice will be provided and where it will be publish ed ( e.g., 
in an official government journal or a prominent newspaper), and whether such publication 
will be promptly made available on the internet).  
 
Question 9  
 
Article 14 of the Regulation  further indicates that Member States will be responsible for col lecting 
and transmitting all information from interested parties to the Commission.  
 
a. Please clarify how Member States will identify those parties that may be interested in the 
investigation to make them aware of the investigation.  
 
b. Please clarify whether M ember States are obligated to respond to the notice from the 
Commission or if they may decide not to participate in the investigation.  
 
c. Please clarify whether Member States will face any repercussions for failing to collect and 
submit the information from interested parties.  
 
d. Please clarify whether Member States will undertake their own analysis of the information 
collected prior to submission of the information to the Commission.  
 
e. Please indicate how the Commission intends to insure that the information ob tained from 
Member States and/or firms in those states is provided in a format and for specific periods 
of time so that it may be aggregated and may reasonably reflect the condition of the 
industry as a whole in the Member States during period examined.  
 
Question 10  
 
Article 15(e) of the Regulation  notes "{a}ll decisions referred to in this article to terminate the 
investigation shall be taken based on the report stated in article 14 of this Regulation." However, 
there is no report identified in Article 14 of the Regulation .  
 
a. Please clarify on what basis all decisions of the investigation shall be based.  
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  b. Please clarify how interested parties will be able to comment on any decisions or outcome 
of the investigation prior to the imposition of any safeguard measure as provided for in 
Article 3.1 of the Safeguards Agreement.  
 
Question 11  
 
Could Liberia please provide a general timeline for a safeguard investigation, including: (1) the 
time interested parties have to make themselves known and submit comments to  the Commission 
or to Member States; (2) when any public hearings might be held during the course of the 
investigation; and (3) the maximum amount of time the Commission has to complete the 
investigation. Please also provide any other relevant timelines th at would help interested parties to 
better under stand the investigation process.  
 
 
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