G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7  
G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7  
G/SG/Q1/MAR/2  
20 February 2014  
(14-1073)  Page: 1/6  
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices 
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures 
Committee on Safeguards  Original: French  
 
  NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLES 18.5, 32.6 AND 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENTS 
REPLIES FROM MOROCCO TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES CONCERNING 
THE NOTIFICATION TO THE WTO OF LAW NO. 15-09 
ON TRADE DEFENCE MEASURES1 
The following communication, dated 18 February 2014,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Morocco. 
 
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Morocco wishes to thank the United States for its questions concerning Morocco's notification of its legislation on trade defence measures. Detailed replies to the questions posed by the United States 
in document G/ADP/Q1/MAR/6-G/SCM/Q1/MA R/6-G/SG/Q1/MAR/1 are set forth below. 
 
General  
 
Question 1 
 Please clarify whether the Agreement on Impl ementation of Article VI of the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (hereinafter "AD Agreement") and Agreement on 
Safeguards (hereinafter "SG Agreement") are self-implementing in Moroccan law. 
In case of a discrepancy between these tw o agreements and Law No. 15-09, which holds 
precedence? In case of a discrepancy be tween Law No. 15-09 and Decree No. 2-12-645, 
which holds precedence? 
 Reply 
 
Under the Moroccan Constitution, duly ratified international agreements published in the Official Bulletin are given precedence over domestic law. Therefore, in the event of a discrepancy between 
the provisions of Law No. 15-09 and those of th e Anti-Dumping Agreement, the Subsidies and 
Countervailing Measures Agreement or the Safe guards Agreement, the provisions of the 
international agreements take precedence. 
 
Regarding any discrepancy between Law No. 15-09 and Decree No. 2-12-645, it should be noted that the hierarchy of the rules of domestic la w gives precedence to laws over implementing 
decrees. Law No. 15-09 and Decree No. 2-12-645 are not two separate texts with the same legal 
value; Law No. 15-09 is the basic text establishing the rights and obligations of the parties, 
while Decree No. 2-12-645 establishes procedures for implementing the provisions of the Law. Consequently, in the event of a discrepancy betw een the provisions of the Law and those of the 
implementing Decree, the provisions of the Law take precedence. 
 
                                               
1 G/ADP/N/1/MAR/3-G/SCM/N/1/MAR/3-G/SG/N/1/MAR/2 (dated 18 February 2013). G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SG/Q1/MAR/2 
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  Question 2  
 Article 3 of Law No. 15-09 and Article 65 of Decree No. 2-12-645 pertain to the 
establishment and composition of an Impo rt Surveillance Commi ssion (hereinafter 
"Commission"). In particular: 
 
a. The articles reference the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and 
Services, the Association of Chambers of Agriculture, the Federation of 
Chambers of Handicrafts, and the Federation of Maritime Fisheries Chambers as members of the Commission. Could Morocco please clarify whether these entities are private or governmental entities? 
b. If these entities are private, could Mo rocco please clarify how it will address 
any conflicts of interest between these en tities and Morocco's national interest 
as cited in Article 1 of Law No. 15-09? 
c. There do not appear to be any provisions for the protection of confidential data 
submitted to the Commission under this law. Please clarify the means by which 
confidential data will be protected from disclosure by members of the 
Commission, as well as the potential rami fications for any member disclosing 
confidential data. 
Reply 
 
a. The Import Surveillance Commission (COSI), established under Article 3 of Law 
No. 15-09 and Article 65 of Decree No. 2-12-64 5, is a body composed exclusively of 
government institutions. The Federations of Chambers are government entities and are 
given this status by domestic legislation, their mission being, inter alia , to represent the 
private sector at central and local government level. 
b. The Federations of Chambers are government entities and  the conflicts of interest 
mentioned in point (b) of the question do not exist. 
c. Law No. 15-09 does not contain any specific prov isions for the protection of confidential 
data submitted to COSI members for their consideration at meetings. It does, however, introduce the obligation to protect confidential data pertaining to the investigation; 
this constitutes a general rule and must be respected by the national government 
authority. The issue of Commission members' access to confidential data pertaining to the investigation and the protection of such data is addressed within the framework 
of the Commission's rules of procedure. In effect, Article 67 of Decree No. 2-12-645 
provides that the Commission shall draw up and adopt its rules of procedure defining its 
operating procedures, particularly as regards the conditions of access to confidential 
information in the context of the investigation. Accordingly, the Commission's draft rules 
of procedure, which are currently being finalized, contain provisions establishing the conditions for Commission members' access to confidential information in the context of an investigation and for the safeguarding of the confidentiality of such information by 
Commission members. Once the rules of procedure have been approved and published 
in the Official Bulletin, they will be notifi ed to the WTO as a supplement to the legal 
provisions on trade defence measures. 
Question 3 
 Articles 3, 15, 16, 39, and 55 of Law No. 15-09 reference the establishment of 
regulations as they pertain to the memb ership and method of operation of the 
Commission, investigations, and hearings. Has Morocco issued these regulations? If so, 
when does Morocco intend to notify these regulations to the relevant WTO Committees?  
Reply 
 The regulatory provisions which Articles 3, 15, 16, 39 and 55 of Law No. 15-09 refer to when they 
say "shall be established by regulation" were set forth in Decree No. 2-12-645 implementing that 
Law. The regulations concerned were established, respectively, in the following provisions G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SG/Q1/MAR/2 
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  of Decree No. 2-12-645: Section I of Chapter IV on the Import Surveillance Commission, 
Section III of Chapter I on determination of injury and causal link, Articles 24 and 25 of Section IV of Chapter I entitled "Investigation relating  to anti-dumping measures and countervailing 
measures", Section II of Chapter III on public hearings and, lastly, Articles 47 and 48 of Section II 
of Chapter II on the investigation procedure relating to safeguard measures. 
 Question 4 
 
Articles 17, 22, 25 and 63 of Law No. 15-09 pert ain to the notification to parties of the 
initiation, preliminary determ ination and final determination by the competent authority 
during the course of an investigation. 
 
a. Please confirm whether these notification s will be made available on a central 
website in addition to the two national  newspapers? If so, please provide the 
website address at which notices will be published. 
b. Please clarify the difference between the notifications made in the two national 
newspapers and the notices made in the O fficial Bulletin as noted in Articles 23, 
26, 48, 63 and elsewhere of Law No. 15- 09. Please provide the website address 
at which Official Bulletins will be published. 
Reply 
 
a. The notifications provided for in Articles 17,  22, 25 and 63 are published, in parallel to 
their notification to the parties concerned, on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Trade at: http://www.mce.gov.ma  
b. The difference between the "notices" published in newspapers authorized to receive legal 
notices and the "measures" published in the Offi cial Bulletin, as referred to in Articles 23, 
26, 48, 63 and 64 of Law No. 15-09, is that the notices published in the newspapers are 
public notices of an informative nature containing practically the same information that 
appears in the notifications, while the "measures" published in the Official Bulletin concern the Orders giving effect to the provisional or definitive measures. Orders are the regulatory texts that impose a trade defence measure and are published in the Official 
Bulletin reserved for the publication of legislative and regulatory texts. The "Official 
Bulletin" is published on the website of the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG) at http://www.sgg.gov.ma  
Question 5 
 Article 70 of Decree No. 2-12-645 states, "The  Minister of the Economy and Finance, 
the Minister of Industry, Trade and New Tec hnologies, and the Minister of Agriculture 
and Maritime Fisheries, shall be resp onsible, each within his own domain, 
for implementing this Decree, which shall be published in the Official Bulletin." 
Please clarify how these ministries together  operate in the conduct and implementation 
of Morocco's trade defence proceedings. 
 Reply 
 
It should be noted that, in Morocco, the Ministry of Foreign Trade is responsible for all proceedings relating to trade defence measures. Accordingly, this Ministry conducts investigations, 
makes preliminary and final determinations, prepares and publishes public notices, communicates 
with the various parties concerned, and organises public hearings, etc. Ministers from other Ministries, in this case those cited in Article 70 of Implementing Decree No. 2-12-645, are represented in the Import Surveillance Commissi on (COSI) and are signatories to the Orders 
imposing trade defence measures. They therefor e participate at the end of the proceedings 
concerning the adoption or non-adoption of a measure. 
 G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SG/Q1/MAR/2 
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  Safeguards 
 
Question 6  
Article 61 of Law No. 15-09 appears to allow the competent administration to impose a 
provisional safeguard measure in either of  two situations: (a) when it makes an 
affirmative preliminary determination, follo wing receipt of questionnaire responses, 
that increased imports are causing or thre atening to cause serious injury to the 
domestic industry, and (b) when it makes such a determination, in the absence of 
replies to questionnaires, and also finds that  "any delay in the adoption of measures 
could cause damage difficult to repair." Pl ease explain how both types of preliminary 
determinations would be consistent with  the requirements of Article 6 of the 
SG Agreement, in particular:  
a. Please explain how the first type of de termination would be consistent with 
Article 6 of the SG Agreement in th e absence of a finding of "critical 
circumstances where delay would cause da mage which it would be difficult to 
repair" and in the absence of a findin g of "clear evidence" that increased 
imports are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic 
industry. 
b. Please explain how the second type of determination would be consistent with 
Article 6 of the SG Agreement in the absence of a finding of "clear evidence" 
that increased imports are causing or thre atening to cause serious injury to the 
domestic industry. 
c. Please indicate whether the competent ad ministration would make one or both 
of such determinations in all investig ations, or would do so only when the 
applicant requested provisional relief. 
Reply 
 Article 6 of the Safeguards Agreement clearly provid es for the possibility of applying a provisional 
safeguard measure following the determination that increased imports have caused or are 
threatening to cause serious injury, and in critical circumstances where delay would cause damage 
which would be difficult to repair. The same Agreemen t, and in this case Article 6 thereof, does not 
however specify whether the provisional measure may be applied just after the initiation of the 
investigation or after a certain amount of time has passed, as is the case in anti-dumping 
proceedings. Nor does it provide any criteria to assess in a qualitative and/or quantitative manner the notion of "in critical circumstances where dela y would cause damage which it would be difficult 
to repair". 
 As regards the application of the provisional safeguard measure provided for in Article 61 of Law No. 15-09, the general rule is that a provisional safeguard measure is applied following the receipt 
of replies to the questionnaires. As an exception to this general rule, the authorities may impose a 
provisional measure without waiting for the replies to the questionnaires. In both cases however, Article 61 of Law No. No. 15-09 requires the investigating authority to make, on the basis of 
evidence, a positive preliminary determination of the existence of the increase in imports that is 
causing serious injury to the domestic industry, and this is in keeping with the spirit of Article 6 of the Agreement on Safeguards. 
 
Question 7  Article 68 of Law No. 15-09 states "The app lication of a provisional or definitive 
safeguard measure may be suspended for a spec ified period on the basis of the opinion 
of the Commission". Please explain how this pr ovision is consistent with Article 7 of the 
SG Agreement which states "A Member shall apply safeguard measures only for such 
period of time as may be necessary to preven t or remedy serious injury and to facilitate 
adjustment".  G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SG/Q1/MAR/2 
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  Reply 
 The application of a safeguard measure may be su spended, in accordance with Article 68 of Law 
No. 15-09, for a specified period of time during the period of application of a safeguard measure. 
The duration of the suspension will be counted as an  integral part of the duration of application of 
the measure envisaged at the end of the invest igation. The duration of the suspension will 
therefore have no effect on the date envisage d for lifting the safeguard measure or on the 
timetable for its dismantlement. The suspension  provided for in Article 68 of Law No. 15-09 
therefore remains consistent with Article 7 of the Agreement on Safeguards.  Question 8 
 
Article 78 of Law No. 15-09 refers to public  hearings that may be organized by the 
competent administration "throughout the investigation." Please explain how the 
hearing procedure would work, including: 
 
a. What is meant by hearings "t hroughout the investigations"; 
b. The point in time during the investigat ion when the hearings would most likely 
occur; and 
c. Whether exporters, foreign producers, and foreign governments would have an 
opportunity to present evidence and views, including to respond to the 
presentations of other parties. 
Reply 
 
In general terms, Article 78 guarantees the interest ed parties' right to defend their interests by 
enabling them to request the organization of public hearings with a view to presenting their evidence, responding to the presentations of other parties, and expressing their views. 
 
a. It should be noted that the expression "throughout the investigation, public hearings 
may be organized…" means that this right enjoyed by an interested party remains valid for the entire duration of the investigation. In other words, an interested party may 
request the organization of a public hearing at any moment during the course of the 
investigation, whether upon its initiation or before or after the preliminary determination. 
b. Law No. 15-09 does not explicitly establish the precise moment during the investigation 
period when a public hearing may take place. It gives the parties the flexibility to request public hearings as and when they feel it is appropriate. In general, the Ministry 
prefers the public hearing to take place after the publication of the preliminary 
determination and before the preparation of the final determination, as this allows for productive discussion on the basis of concrete elements. 
c. Any parties which come forward as interested parties in the investigation may participate 
in the public hearing. The Ministry will inform them sufficiently in advance, by any 
suitable means, of the date and time of the hearing. 
Question 9 
 
In Article 43 of Decree No. 1-12-645, Moro cco states that the governmental authority 
responsible for foreign trade must consider  import trends for "at least three (3) 
successive years" immediately preceding the initiation of the investigation. 
Please explain whether the governmental authority would be free to choose longer 
periods, and the criteria that might be app lied in choosing periods of varying duration 
in different investigations. 
 G/ADP/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SCM/Q1/MAR/7 • G/SG/Q1/MAR/2 
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  Reply 
 With regard to the period under consideration wh en examining import trends or growth in the 
context of a safeguard investigation, the Agreement on Safeguards does not expressly specify the 
duration of the period covered by the investigat ion for the purposes of analysing the growth of 
imports. In order to standardize this matter in domestic law, Law No. 15-09 established, as stipulated in Article 43 of Decree No. 2-12-645, the minimum period to take into consideration, 
which is three years. The Ministry may, however, take into consideration a long period, 
where appropriate, if this is necessary for making a judgement on reasonable grounds. In any case, in the various safeguard cases addressed by Morocco, the examination period to determine the massive increase in imports was four years. 
 
Question 10  
Article 49 of Decree No. 1-12-645 addresses the contents of the notice of initiation of a 
safeguards investigation. Please indicate wh ether the notice will state how an interested 
party would obtain a copy of the non-conf idential application and related documents 
requesting the investigation, as well as non- confidential copies of any briefs and other 
documents subsequently filed during the in vestigation. Please also indicate whether 
these documents may be accessed electronica lly and whether they are also available for 
copying or viewing. 
 
Reply  
Article 49 establishes a minimum number of elements which must be included in a notice of 
initiation of a safeguard investigation, without excluding the possibility of introducing other elements, notably, as referred to in the question, the procedures parties must follow to obtain a 
non-confidential copy of the application and the documents in the public file pertaining to the 
investigation. Furthermore, in Morocco, public notices concerning the initiation of an investigation (safeguards, anti-dumping) always include the address (and email address) of the Ministry 
departments to which the replies, comments or requests of the parties must be sent. 
 
Regarding the procedures for accessing non-confidential documents pertaining to the investigation, the notices published by the Ministry include detail s of who should be contacted in order to view 
these documents or obtain copies. The Ministry can also send non-confidential documents to the 
parties that request them by any means, including by email.  
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