. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/N/6/DOM/3 
14 January 2010 
 (10-0134) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(a) OF THE AGREEMENT 
ON SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION 
AND THE REASONS FOR IT 
 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
(Polypropylene bags and tubular fabric
) 
   The following communication, dated 18 December 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the Dominican Republic.
1 
 
_______________ 
   Pursuant to Article 12.1(a) of the WTO Agre ement on Safeguards, and in the light of the 
format for notifications under the Agreement on Sa feguards adopted by the Committee on Safeguards, 
the Dominican Republic notifies the Committee th at its competent authorities have initiated a 
safeguards procedure, as follows:  
1. Date of initiation of the investigation 
 
 17 December 2009, by means of a notice published in the newspaper Hoy and on the 
Regulatory Commission website.  A copy of the Reso lution initiating the investigation is attached 
hereto.  
2. Product subject to the investigation 
 
 Polypropylene bags and tubular fabric.  The pr oducts are currently classified under tariff lines 
5407.20.20, 6305.33.10 and 6305.33.90 of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding 
System, Spanish version, including its alignment with the Fourth Edition, 2007.  3. Reasons for the initiation of the investigation 
 
 (a) The investigation was initiated at the request of FERTILIZANTES SANTO 
DOMINGO, C.  POR A. (FERSAN), as the dom estic industry, and on the basis of the 
information and evidence which it submitted. 
 
 (b) The Commission has determined, on the basis of the information submitted by 
FERSAN, that conditions exist which warrant the initiation of an investigation  in 
accordance with Article 3 of the Agre ement on Safeguards and Article 66 of 
                                                     
 
1 A copy of Resolution CDC-RD-SG-046-2009 (in Spanish only) has been submitted electronically.  
Anyone wishing to consult this document should contact Ms Budd (hilary.budd@wto.org) or Ms Naville 
(delphine.naville@wto.org) from the Rules Division. G/SG/N/6/DOM/3 
Page 2  
 
  Law No. 1-02, whereby it shall be determined, following a detailed study of such 
evidence and views as may be presented by th e applicant, the importers, the exporters 
and other interested parties, whether or not it is appropriate to apply safeguard 
measures to imports of polypr opylene bags and tubular fa bric falling under tariff lines 
6305.33.10, 6305.33.90 and 5407.20.20. 
 
 (c) The evidence submitted to date and that gathered by the Research Department of the 
Regulatory Commission has shown that, in ab solute terms and taking into account the 
timeframe examined in the present investiga tion, the increase in imports amounted to 
76 per cent during the period analysed, which confirms the existence of an increase in 
imports of polypropylene bags and tubul ar fabric in the Dominican Republic. 
 
 (d) An analysis of the relevant economic and financial indicators of the applicant has 
revealed that in the years 2007-2008, FE RSAN suffered losses of 296 per cent, and 
that in general, over the entire period an alysed, its pre-tax earnings fell by 184 per 
cent. 
 
 (e) The Regulatory Commission has analysed  the inventory level of the applicant 
company in terms of volume, and has found that it increased by 23 per cent over the period 2006-2008, which in value terms am ounts to an increase of 165 per cent over 
the period investigated. 
 
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