WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/BOP/G/17 
15 September 2009 
 (09-4334) 
Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions Original:   Spanish 
  
 
CONSULTATIONS WITH ECUADOR 
 
Communication from Ecuador
 
  
 The following communication, dated 8 September 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Ecuador.  
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  WT/BOP/G/17 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Report by Ecuador 
 
Balance-of-Payments Committee 
World Trade Organization 
  
 Pursuant to the commitments undertaken by Ec uador during the consulta tions held within the 
framework of the Balance-of-Payments Committee meetings of 22 and 24 April 2009 and 2 and 
3 June 2009, as set out in the conclusions of  the Committee report contained in document 
WT/BOP/R/91 of 11 June 2009, attached please find the periodic report corresponding to the 
Committee meetings of September 2009, in accordan ce with Article XVIII:B 12(b) of the GATT 1994 
and paragraph 7 of the Understanding on the Ba lance-of-Payments Provisions of the GATT 1994. 
  By means of the communications in documents WT/BOP/N/65, WT/BOP/N/65/Rev.1 and WT/BOP/N/67, Ecuador originally notified WTO Memb ers of a regime of measures to safeguard its 
balance-of-payments equilibrium under Article XVIII :B of the GATT 1994.  The measures applied to 
630 tariff subheadings, slightly more than 8 per cent of the tariff universe.  The products chosen were 
chiefly consumer goods and included only those cons idered to be non-essential or luxury goods which 
would not affect the economy's productive activity.  The period of application of the originally 
proposed measure is one calendar year, until 22 Janua ry 2010.  The measure or iginally involved the 
following: 
 
• Imposition of an ad valorem  surcharge of 30 or 35 per cent on 75 tariff subheadings; 
• imposition of a specific tariff on 284 tariff subheadings, chiefly footwear and 
made-up articles; 
• imposition of quantitative restrictions on 271 tariff subheadings according to the 
value of imports, with a 30 or 35 per cent reduction in the value imported in 2008. 
 During the Committee consultations, Ecuador  undertook to conduct ongoing monitoring of 
the applied measures and to evaluate its balance- of-payments position on a regular basis in order to 
inform WTO Members of possible amendments to the adopted measures in the event of any positive 
developments.   Sensitive to the concerns expressed by its tr ading partners in the context of Committee 
consultations, Ecuador endorsed the recommendation to make the regime more flexible without 
sacrificing the effectiveness of the measures adopted  to address the serious difficulties detected in 
respect of its balance of payments.  In early comp liance with regard to its  commitment to "replace 
most of the quantitative restrictions for price- based measures no later than 1 September 2009", 
Ecuador notified the Committee in the communications  of 29 June 2009 and 16 July 2009 (documents 
WT/BOP/N/69 and WT/BOP/N/70) of its replacement  of the quantitative measures with price-based 
measures, in accordance with the recommendations  expressed by several WTO Members during the 
recent Committee consultations. 
 WT/BOP/G/17 
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   The amendment to the regime imposed by Ecuador with a view to safeguarding its 
balance-of-payments equilibrium basically consists  of the replacement of quantitative measures with 
price-based surcharges.  This conversion, described  in the notifications mentioned in the preceding 
paragraph, was completed with the remaining 20 tari ff subheadings pursuant to Resolution No. 503 of 
Ecuador's Foreign Trade and Investment Council, whic h is notified simultaneously with this report.  
Accordingly, all of the tariff subheadings with qua ntitative restrictions are now subject to a tariff 
surcharge system.  Surcharge levels are 3 per cen t, 12 per cent, 30 per cent and 35 per cent  
ad valorem , and a surcharge in the form of a specific ta riff is applied in a few instances, mainly to 
tyres and to three tariff subheadings corresponding to fruit.  The applied level for the great majority of 
these subheadings (234) is 12 per cent ad valorem , which means that the price-based measures 
preferred by WTO Members reach an average level of 15 per cent ad valorem .  Ecuador has thus met 
its commitment to ensure that changes to the measur es do not "result in more trade-restrictive market 
access conditions" than the quantitative measures originally imposed.   Furthermore, Ecuador is able to report that, a lthough the desired levels of equilibrium have 
not been achieved, its balance of payments has sh own an upward trend.  The critical level of the 
economy's liquidity, reported during previous consultations, has improved.  The Ecuadorian 
Government continues to monitor developments in so  far as the risk levels of the dollarization regime 
in force in the country remain high.  A number of ex ternal factors, such as the recovery of oil prices, a 
slow but gradual recovery in global demand for the commodities exported by Ecuador, and greater 
stability of the world economy, are, however, to be noted. 
 
 The impact of the trade measures adopted has contributed to a gradual re-establishment of 
monetary and fiscal equilibrium in the Ecuadoria n economy and, in this respect, Ecuador is 
appreciative of the support and understanding of WT O Members.  Ecuador will continue to submit 
periodic reports to the Balance-of-Payments Committ ee, as it undertook to do and in compliance with 
all its other commitments in this context. 
 
Quito, September 2009 
 
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