. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/CHN/25 
2 November 2005 
 (05-5166) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Questions and Comments Posed by the Delegation of JAPAN
 
Regarding the Notification of the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  
  
 The following communication, dated 1 November 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Japan. 
 
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 The Government of Japan (GOJ) appreciates the steady improvements in the safeguard rules 
and procedures of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) through the Transitional Review Mechanism 
(TRM). 
 
 However, there have still existed some concerns  on the consistency of its safeguard rules and 
procedures with the General Agreement on Tariffs  and Trade (GATT) and the WTO Agreement on 
Safeguards (WTO-SG Agreement).  Therefore, GOJ poses several questions below and are willing to 
discuss these issues with PRC in a constructive manner. 
 
1. The Consistency of Article 31 of Regulati ons of PRC on Safeguards with GATT and 
WTO-SG Agreement 
 
 Following the comments by PRC at the previous TRM meeting, measures under Article 31 of Regulations of PRC on Safeguards “are different from rebalancing measures.”  Please specify on which provisions of GATT, WTO-SG Agreement a nd/or Dispute Settlement Understanding the above 
measures based. 
 
2. Lack of Explicit Provisions in Domestic Acts 
 
 The Acts and regulations on safeguards of PRC do not have specific provisions regarding 
some rules provided under GATT and WTO-SG Agreem ent.  Although PRC stated that some of them, 
such as considerations of “unforeseen developments,”  were assured at its investigation procedures, 
GOJ requests PRC to provide those rules explic itly in the relevant laws and regulations.
 
 
• Regulations of PRC on Safeguards do not stipulate as one of the conditions for taking Safeguard 
measure “unforeseen developments”,  prescribed in GATT Article XIX: 1(a).  In the previous TRM 
meeting, PRC stated that it had made investigati ons in consistent with WTO-SG Agreement, even 
though without any specific provisions.  In order to assure the consistency with the WTO-SG Agreement, GOJ requests PRC to provide the above-men tioned rule clearly in its laws and regulations.   
 G/SG/Q1/CHN/25 
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 • Article 3.1 of WTO-SG Agreement s tipulates that “the opportunity to respond to the presentations of 
other parties and to submit their views, inter alia , as to whether or not the application of a safeguard 
measure would be in the public interest” shall be given.  However, Article 19 of Regulations of PRC on 
Safeguards only provides, “[t]he application of safegu ard measures shall be in the public interest.”  
From the point of view of the clarity and  the consistency with WTO-SG Agreement, GOJ requests 
PRC to stipulate explicitly “the opportunity to resp ond to the presentations of other parties and to 
submit their views” in the laws and regulations. 
 
• Regarding compensation measures (Article 8.1 of WTO-SG Agreement), PRC commented in the 
previous TRM meeting, “[c]onsultations under Article 24 of Regulations of PRC on Safeguards respond to the matter of the relevant provisions of WTO Agreement on Safeguards and the article 
includes compensation measures.”  However, the article only requires making available “adequate 
opportunities for consultations,” and does not mention any compensation measures.  GOJ request PRC to include a provision about compensation measures in the relevant regulations ,making it fully 
consistent with WTO Agreement on Safeguards. 
 
3. Disclosure of Data for Investigations 
  With regard to the definition of “domestic industry,” PRC commented at the previous TRM 
meeting that it was specified in Article 10 of Regulations of PRC on Safeguards, and PRC had 
conducted investigations based on th e article.  But, in the case of the steel safeguard, PRC limited the 
scope of its investigation to eight domestic stee l manufacturers, and deemed the sum of the above 
eight manufacturers’ productions as the total producti on of domestic industry, because of the reason 
that their outputs accounted for a major part of the total production in PRC.  However, investigation 
authority of PRC did not disclose any specific data on output quantities in its findings.  GOJ request PRC to make the relevant data public along with  its findings in its future investigation. 
 
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