. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG170/4 
22 May 2006 
 
 (06-2470) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
ENLARGEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 
 
Questions and Replies
 
  
 The following communication, dated 16 May 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the European Communities.   This document reproduces the questions addressed  to the Parties and the responses submitted. 
The questions and replies set out below are or ganized in accordance with document WT/REG170/2. 
  
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II.  TRADE PROVISIONS 
 
6.  Antidumping and countervailing measures 
 1. With regard to the Answer to Question 11 on Section II. 6 “Anti-dumping and countervailing measures” in WT/REG170/3, we note th e EC’s basic premise that it is entitled to 
automatically extend the existing AD measures to the ten new member states.  Could the EC 
please clarify which specific provisions of the Anti-dumping Agreement and 
GATT Article XXIV it relies on, to justify the au tomatic extension of anti-dumping measures?  
 
 We kindly refer the authorities of Hong Kong, China to our replies on the same topic in the previous round of questions.  Here is a summary of our previous replies:  
 Since the enlargement of 1 May 2004, the 25 Member States of the EU constitute one single 
market with a Common Commercial Policy which includes the uniform EU-wide application of 
trade policy instruments.  As a result, like with  all the other aspects of the EU Common Commercial 
Policy, as of 1 May 2004, the EU trade defence la w and measures became applicable in the ten new 
Member States, while all measures previously ap plied by those new Member States against third 
countries and against each other disappeared.  
  Enlargement as such did not trigger automatic  re-examinations of all existing EU trade 
defence measures because it did not necessarily cha nge the basic economic parameters underlying 
these measures.  This was illustrated in particular by the fact that the production and trade flows of 
goods in the acceding countries were less than ten pe r cent of those of the 15 old Member States of 
the EU.   However, wherever enlargement substan tially changed the circumstances regarding 
anti-dumping measures (e.g. the injury parameters ), reviews of such measures are possible in 
accordance with Article 11(3) of Council Regula tion (EC) No. 384/96 of 22 December 1995 on 
protection against dumped imports from countries not members of the European Community (the 
‘basic Regulation’) and Article 11.2 of the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement.  Since the date of WT/REG170/4 
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  enlargement, i.e. as of 1 May 2004, interested pa rties had therefore the possibility to lodge review 
requests of trade defence measures for which enla rgement significantly changed dumping, subsidy, 
injury or other important parameters of the measure s.  We widely informed interested parties and 
our major trade partners of such possibility through publication of a notice in the Official Journal of the EU, bilateral contacts with third countri es representations and publication of extensive 
information on our website. 
  Finally, the EC considers that the extension of  EU trade defence measures to the territory of 
the new Member States would not imply that the fo rmation of the Customs Union, on the whole, has 
lead to higher or more restrictive duties and other regulations of commerce in the constituent 
territories in accordance with GATT Article XXIV.5.  In this respect, it should be underlined that 
trade defence measures represent an infinitesimal proportion of overall duties applied at the 
EU borders. 
 
8.  Sector-specific provisions 
 
2. The EU response to export subsidy commitm ents suggests that the EU-15 schedule will 
apply until the negotiations have lead to a revised EU-25 schedule.  The United States has concluded their Article XXIV:6 negotiations with the EU and did not come to any agreement on 
the consolidation of export subsidies.  Theref ore, will the EU please confirm the budgetary 
outlay and quantity commitments in respect of the export subsidy reduction commitments for 
the EU-25.  If the levels are still undetermined, what is the EU’s schedule for negotiating these 
commitments?   
 The EC should like to note that the EC and its  Member States, including the ten new Member 
States, are contracting parties of the WTO.  Right s and obligations have not ceased to exist in the 
course of formation of the Customs Union.  In accordance with Article XXIV.5 of GATT 1994, the 
duties and regulations of commerce shall not be highe r or more restrictive following the extension of 
the Customs Union.  This also applies to the thresholds on agricultural support.    The EC would also like to recall that the EC and the US have closed an agreement in the 
framework of the negotiations provided for by Article XXIV:6 of GATT 1994.  Article XXIV:6 
imposes an obligation on the EU and WTO Members to  engage in case of a proposal to increase any 
rate of duty inconsistent with Article II of GATT.  It does not impose obligations as regards 
agricultural support. 
 
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