WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/HND/4 
7 September 2009 
 (09-4217) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER  
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES Regarding
 
the Notification of HONDURAS1 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 3 September 2009, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of the United States.    
_______________ 
 
  The United States thanks Honduras for its notifi cation and poses the following questions with 
regard to Honduras' notification of the Centra l American Regulations on Safeguard Measures 
(hereinafter Regulations ), which gives effect to Resolution No. 194-2007 (COMIECO-XLIV) of the 
Council of Ministers for Economic Integration.   
 
Question 1 
 
 Is the WTO Agreement on Safeguards (the Agreement) self implementing under Honduran 
law?  Assuming that the Agreement is self-impleme nting, in the event of a conflict between the 
Agreement and the Regulations,  which legal authority takes precedence?   
 
Question 2  
 
 Article 1 (Definitions
) of the Regulations  defines the investigating authority as "The 
Directorate or Directorate-General of Integration of  the Ministry or Secretariat of the Economy or, as 
the case may be, the Directorate competent for ma tters pertaining to Central American economic 
integration in each State Party, or  the technical unit with responsibility for investigating situations that 
may warrant the application of the safeguard meas ures provided for in these Regulations".  Please 
identify the specific government entity in Honduras th at will serve as the administering authority for 
safeguard actions.   
 
Question 3 
 
 Article 8 (Period of investigation ) of the Regulations  states that the period of investigation 
"shall be three years, without prejudice to the i nvestigating authority being empowered to extend or 
reduce such period."  How would the administering authority go about selecting the three or other number of years that constitute the period of investig ation?  For example, if a three-year period is 
selected, must the three years be consecutive years a nd must they also be the most recent three full 
years for which data are available?  Under what  circumstances might the administering authority 
select a shorter or longer period?  
                                                     
 
1 G/SG/N/1/HND/3. G/SG/Q1/HND/4 
Page 2  
 
  Question 4  
 
 Article 15 (Notification of initiation of an investigation
) of the Regulations  gives interested 
parties 45 days following notifi cation in which to submit evidence, whereas Article 24 (Public 
hearing) of the Regulations  provides for additional opportunity to submit evidence at the public 
hearing, which would "conclude the evidentiary pe riod" and Article 25 (Submissions) gives interested 
parties an additional 15 days after the hearing to make submissions "in writing in addition to those 
made at the public hearing."   (a) Please explain the general time line that  the administering authority would follow in 
conducting an investigation and receiving evidence. 
  (b) Would the 45-day period for submitting evidence be the same for all interested 
parties, or would it differ for interested parties depending upon when the party received notification of the initiation of the investigation? 
 
 (c) Would the public hearing be conducte d during that 45-day period?  If the public 
hearing is conducted after the end of the 45-day period, how would that affect the 
ability of the interested party to presen t evidence at the public hearing?   
  (d) Could additional evidence be submitted during the 15-day period following the public 
hearing?   
  (e) What additional opportunities would an interested party have to rebut evidence 
submitted by another interested party? 
 Question 5 
 
 Article 27 (Conclusion of the investigation
) of the Regulations  requires the investigating 
authority to issue a "technical opinion" and then to  submit the "record together with the technical 
study" and recommendations to the minister or secretary.  What do the "technical opinion" and the "technical study" consist of and what  is the difference between the two? 
 
Question 6 
 
 With regard to import relief measures:  
 (a) What types of import relief measures ma y be applied under the regulations, and what 
limitations apply?   
  (b) Do the regulations limit any measures to  those which are necessary to prevent or 
remedy serious injury and facilitate adjustment to import competition? 
 
 (c) What other limitations would apply, in cluding with respect to duration and amount of 
relief?   
  (d) Do the regulations require the industry or firms in the industry to submit an 
adjustment plan or other information with respect to adjustment efforts that will be 
undertaken if measures are applied?    
  G/SG/Q1/HND/4 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Question 7 
 
 Article 38 (Publication ) of the Regulations  states that resolutions regarding the initiation of a 
safeguard investigation and the imposition of pre liminary and/or final measures shall be published 
"once only, at the cost of the interested party."   
 
 (a) Please identify the publication in which the Honduran authorities would publish these 
notifications.   
  (b) Which of the interested parties listed in Article 1 of the Regulations  would be 
required to pay for publication of the notice?  
 
Question 8  
 
 Article 41 (Amendments to the Regulations
) of the Regulations  states that "Each State Party 
shall submit a semi-annual report to the Executiv e Committee for Economic Integration, through 
SIECA, on the implementation of this instrument ."   Please clarify how and where these semi-annual 
reports will be made available to interested parties.   
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