WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SG/Q1/IDN/12 
11 January 2013 
 (13-0138) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Replies to Questions posed by the UNITED STATES
1 Regarding  
the Notification of INDONESIA2 
   The following communication, dated 8 January 2013,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Indonesia.    
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Question 1 
 
 With regard to Article 1(3) and (25) of G overnment Regulation 34, Indonesia defines the 
term "safeguard measure" to mean a measure "t o remedy serious injury or to prevent threat of 
serious injury suffered by a domestic industry."  Could Indonesia please clarify how this wording is consistent with wording in Articl e 5:1 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and 
elsewhere in the Agreement that refers to me asures necessary "to prevent or remedy serious 
injury"?  (To further clarify, Indonesia appear s to envision that it might apply a safeguard 
measure in order to prevent the threat of serious injury, as opposed to prevent serious injury.  
Similar wording occurs elsewhere in the reg ulation, including in Article 70(3)). 
 
Reply 
  Article 1(3) and (25) and article 70(3) of G overnment Regulation 34 is  consistent with the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards (WTO-AS), in whic h safeguard measure shall only be apllied to 
prevent or remedy serious injury.  It is not envi sioned to apply a safeguard  measure to prevent the 
threat of serious injury, as Indonesia does not fo resee any circumstances in which the relevant 
investigating authority could id entify the threat of serious injury before it actually arises. 
 Question 2 
 
 Article 72(4) of Government Regulation 34 refers to the filing of confidential documents 
and prohibits their disclosure.  It states that "D ocuments that are declared confidential may not 
be disclosed."  Please indicate whether the KPPI  defines the term "confidential" documents, 
whether the submitter of the document alone det ermines whether a document is "confidential" 
or whether KPPI does using objective criteria,  and how this Article is consistent with Article 3:2 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, which among other things provides that confidential treatment may be provided "upon cause being shown."  It is also noted that similar 
wording appears elsewhere in Regulation 34 (for example, in Article 78(4). 
                                                      
1 G/SG/Q1/IDN/11.   
2 G/SG/N/1/IDN/3.   G/SG/Q1/IDN/12 
Page 2  
 
  Reply 
 
 The submitter of the document is entitled to claim that information is confidential, and KPPI 
will grant this request provided that it can be shown that the information is of a commercially 
sensitive nature and that adequate non-confidential su mmaries are provided, so that interested parties 
are aware of the substance of the confidential information submitted. 
 
Question 3 
  Article 74(2)b of Government Regulation 34 requires that the KPPI provide notice of 
the initiation of an investigation to, among oth er persons, "associations of importers."  Please 
explain what is meant by an "association" of importers, and also please explain how individual 
importers who are not members of an association wo uld be notified.  It should be noted that the 
term "associations of importers" occurs in sever al places in Regulation 34 (for example, in 
Article 76(3)). 
 
Reply 
  Association of importers refers to an associati on that acts on behalf of and in the interest of 
their members.  The investigati ng authority shall send the notice of initiation to all parties known to 
exist, to include individual importers, the in formation of which may be obtained from, amongst 
others, the application submitted by the domestic i ndustry, information generally available to the 
authority, and interested parties that make them selves known to the authority.  With regards to 
importers that are not members of known association, the investigating authority is of the opinion that the announcement regarding the initiation of invest igations as made in a national newspaper and 
broadcasted in the official website of the Ministry of  Trade, shall be sufficient to avail such importers 
with necessary knowledge about the investig ation as well as about who to contact.  
 
Question 4 
 
 Article 80 of Government Regulation 34 sets out the circumstances under which 
Indonesia might apply a provisional safeguard measure.  Please explain how the test set out in 
Article 80(1) is consistent with that in Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, which 
provides in part that "In critical circumstanc es where delay would cause damage which it 
would be difficult to repair," a member may take a provisional measure "pursuant to a preliminary determination that there is clear evidence that increased imports have caused or 
are threatening to ca use serious injury."  
 
Reply 
  To the extent that article 80 of Government Re gulation 34 is silent on critical circumstances 
and pursuant to a preliminary determination, Indon esia confirms that the terms of article 6 of the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards prevails. 
 
Question 5 
 
 Article 88(1) of Government Regulation 34 states that petitioners requesting an 
extension of a safeguard measure must submit their request to KPPI "within a reasonable 
period of time before the expiry date of the sa feguard measure."  How does Indonesia define the 
term "reasonable period of time" and will th e period of time allow KPPI to conduct the 
necessary investigation and provide for input from  interested parties in conformity with the 
procedures set out in Articles 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards? 
  G/SG/Q1/IDN/12 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Reply 
 
 It is intended that any request for an extention must be filed in such a way as to provide the 
investigating authority with sufficient time to revi ew the merit of such a request, including to conduct 
the proceeding as laid down in Articles 2, 3, 4, and 5 WTO-AS, while at the same time taking into 
account the result of mid term review of the saf eguard measure as periodicaly carried out by the 
investigating authority.    
Question 6 
 
 Article 88(3) of Government Regulation 34 sets out the test that KPPI will apparently 
apply in deciding whether to recommend an extens ion of a safeguard measure.  Please explain 
how this test is consistent with the test in Ar ticle 7:2 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards that 
states that a measure may be extended provided that the competent authorities determine that the safeguard measure "continues to be necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury and that 
there is evidence that the industry is adjusting"?  
Reply 
  Article 88 (3) meets the requirements of article 7.2 f the WTO Agreement in that the recommendation to extend safeguard measures is to  be made where KPPI determines that it is 
necessary to prevent or remedy serious injury an d that there is evidence that the Industry is 
restructuring.    
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