. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/UKR/6 
7 May 2009 
 (09-2249) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER  
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Replies to Questions Posed by INDONESIA
1 Regarding  
the Notification of UKRAINE2 
 
  The following communication, dated 6 May 2009, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Ukraine.    
_______________ 
 
Question 1 
 
 Could the WTO Member of Ukraine clearly explain in more details under what 
circumstances Ukraine's competent authorities may in itiate an investigation on its own initiative 
(Chapter II Article 5 and Chapter III Article 9 of the notified regulations)?  
Reply
 
In accordance with part one of Article 5 of  the Law of Ukraine "On Applying Safeguard 
Measures to Imports to Ukraine", if the growth of  imports to Ukraine may cause the need to apply 
measures stipulated by this Law, the State Cust oms Service of Ukraine, the appropriate executive 
authority in Ukraine inform the Ministry of Econ omy of Ukraine thereof.  The Ministry of Economy 
may, on its own initiative, collect such informati on (as a body whose scope of authority covers the 
conduct of safeguards investigations).  
It should be noted that requirements of the Law to information that must be collected by 
competent state authorities of Ukraine for initiation a safeguard investigation fully comply with the 
requirements to information provided in the applicati on that is filed on behalf of the domestic industry 
(Article 6 of the Law).   
As to part three of Article 9 of  the Law, it refers to the right of the Ministry of Economy to 
request information necessary to conduct a safeguard investigation and use it irrespective of the fact, 
on whose initiative the investigation was launched. 
Question 2 
 
 Article 13.3 (2) of Establishment of Existence of Serious Injury or Threat Thereof states 
that one of the factor shall be evaluated as a po ssibility of causing injury is "future or already 
existing export potential of a country of origin  or exporting country, as well as probability of 
utilization of such potential for the expo rt of such product to Ukraine".   
                                                      
1 G/SG/Q1/UKR/3. 
2 G/SG/N/1/UKR/1.   G/SG/Q1/UKR/6 
Page 2  
 
   
 What is meant by "possibility" in referring to continuation of export increases, and how 
is this term distinguished form "allegation, conject ure or remote possibility" in Article 4.1(b) of 
the WTO Safeguards Agreement?    
 How is this consistent with the requirem ent in Article 2.1 of the WTO Safeguards 
Agreement that the serious injury or threat of se rious injury be to the domestic industry?  For 
example, would an increase in foreign capacity alone provide a basis for determining that the 
domestic industry is threatened with serious injury?   
 Reply
 
 
Part one of Article 13 of the Law stipulates that , in the course of a safeguard investigation the 
Ministry of Economy studies all relevant factors of the objective and quantitative nature having an 
impact on the domestic producer.  In accordance with part three of Article 13 of the Law, if it is 
maintained that a threat of serious injury to the domestic industry exists, the Ministry of Economy will 
normally study the probability of causing injury as a result of a specific situation.  In doing so, a number of factors is taken into consideration incl uding the export potential of countries of origin or 
export that has already been formed or will likely be formed in the future as well as the possibility of 
this potential to be used to export to Ukraine.  
Paragraph 3 of Article 1 of the Law stipulates that a threat of causing serious injury is an 
inadvertent threat of causing serious injury to  the domestic producer.  A determination of the 
existence of a threat of serious injury must be b ased on facts and not merely on allegation, conjecture 
or remote possibility. 
As to the assessment of certain factors having an  impact on the determination of the existence 
of serious injury or a threat of causing serious injury to the domestic industry as a result of mass 
imports, in accordance with part two of Article 13 of  the Law in the course of its investigation the 
Ministry of Economy studies a number of factors, in particular, quantities of imports, if such quantities significantly increased during the period of i nvestigation, absolute or relative to domestic 
production or consumption in Ukraine of like or direc tly competitive products; the price of imports to 
Ukraine of this product (products), if during the pe riod of the investigation a significant reduction in 
its price occurred relative to the price of the like produ ct in Ukraine; the conseq uence that is the result 
of previous factors in respect of the domestic producer; other factors concerning the investigation.  
Thus, the Ministry of Economy draws its conclusi ons as to the existence of serious injury (a 
threat of causing a serious injury) based on a cumulative assessment of all factors, no single one being decisive.  
__________