WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/ALB/8 
26 November 2008 
 (08-5810) 
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 ALBANIA2 
 
  The following communication, dated 17 November 2008, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of Albania.     
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Question 1 
 
 Article 7 of the notified regulations identifi es certain relevant factors that its competent 
authorities shall examine in making the determin ation of injury.  How will Albania's competent 
authorities ensure that " all relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature having a 
bearing on the situation of [the] industry" are evaluated, as required by Safeguard Agreement 
Article 4.2(a)?   
 Reply
 
  Albania's competent authorities can ensure that all relevant factors are evaluated, through examination of all data gathered  for investigation purposes.   
 
SGA - Determination of Serious Injury or Threat Thereof 
Article 4.2  
(a) In the investigation to determine whether incr eased imports have caused or are threatening to 
cause serious injury to a domestic industry under the terms of this Agreement, the competent 
authorities shall evaluate all relevant factors of an  objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing 
on the situation of that industry, in particular, th e rate and amount of the increase in imports of the 
product concerned in absolute and re lative terms, the share of the dom estic market taken by increased 
imports, changes in the level of sales, production, pr oductivity, capacity utilization, profits and losses, 
and employment.   (b) The determination referred to in subparagraph (a) shall not be made unless this investigation 
demonstrates, on the basis of objective evidence, th e existence of the causal link between increased 
imports of the product concerned and serious injury or threat thereof.  When factors other than increased imports are causing injury to the domestic i ndustry at the same time, such injury shall not be 
attributed to increased imports.   
                                                     
 
1 G/SG/Q1/ALB/7.   
2 G/SG/N/1/ALB/2/Rev.1.   G/SG/Q1/ALB/8 
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  (c) The competent authorities shall publish pr omptly, in accordance with the provisions of 
Article 3, a detailed analysis of the case under investigation as well as a demonstration of the 
relevance of the factors examined.    
Albanian LAW  
Article 7 - Determination and evaluation of injury  
 In the course of examination of the developm ent of imports and conditions under which they 
are carried out, as well as of the injury or the threat  to serious injury of the domestic products due to 
these imports, there shall be evaluated the following factors:   
 
a)  volume of imports, specifically whether it has undergone considerable increases in absolute or 
relative terms to the domestic production or consumption;   
b)  price of imports, whether there has been or not any considerable price reduction, in absolute or relative terms, compared to the price of a like product in the Republic of Albania;   
c)  impact on imports on the domestic producers producing like or competitive products, directly, 
as it is indicated through some economic factors,  as:  production, productiveness, utilisation of 
capacity, situations, sales, market share, prices, profits/losses, return of own capital, cash influx and 
level of employment.   ç)  other factors, which are causing or have caused injury to the domestic industry.    Question 2 
 
 Could Albania clearly explain the phrase of Arti cle 7 of the notified regulations that the 
autorithies "shall be evaluated price of imports,  whether there has been or not any considerable 
price reduction, in absolute or relative terms, compared to the price of a like product in the 
Republic of Albania?    
Reply
 
  Price of imports is determined to be evaluated as one factor that may affect imports trend.  So, a lesser importing price compared to the domestic price of the like product in the Republic of Albania may 
lead to an increasing demand for the imported prod uct, furthermore to an increase of imports in 
considerable amount, causing or threat to caus e serious injury to the domestic industry.   
 
SGA - Determination of Serious Injury or Threat Thereof 
Article 4.2  
 
(a) In the investigation to determine whether incr eased imports have caused or are threatening to 
cause serious injury to a domestic industry under the terms of this Agreement, the competent 
authorities shall evaluate all relevant factors of an  objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing 
on the situation of that industry, in particular, th e rate and amount of the increase in imports of the 
product concerned in absolute and re lative terms, the share of the dom estic market taken by increased 
imports, changes in the level of sales, production, pr oductivity, capacity utilization, profits and losses, 
and employment.   (b) The determination referred to in subparagraph (a) shall not be made unless this investigation 
demonstrates, on the basis of objective evidence, th e existence of the causal link between increased 
imports of the product concerned and serious injury or threat thereof.  When factors other than 
increased imports are causing injury to the domestic i ndustry at the same time, such injury shall not be 
attributed to increased imports.   (c) The competent authorities shall publish pr omptly, in accordance with the provisions of 
Article 3, a detailed analysis of the case under investigation as well as a demonstration of the 
relevance of the factors examined.    G/SG/Q1/ALB/8 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Article 7 - Determination and evaluation of injury 
 
b)  price of imports, whether there has been or not any considerable price reduction, in absolute or relative terms, compared to the price of a like product in the Republic of Albania.   
 Question 3 
 
 How will Albania implement the provisions specified in Article 14 of the notified 
regulations regarding the treatment of confid ential information and the provision of non-
confidential summaries?  What criterion is used as a basis for classifying information as a 
business secret?    
Reply
 
  The reference appointed by I ndonesian delegation to Albanian law "On safeguard measures on 
imports", regarding to Article 14, do not correspond to the actual provi sions for Confidentiality, on the 
law send for notification to the WTO, by us.  Articl e 14 Law is on Investigat ion and Article 21 is on 
Confidentiality.  The information would be considered as confidential nature, on basis of permission or required permission of the entity, or any s upplier of the information, itself.   
 
SGA 
Article 3 - Investigation  
(b) Any information which is by nature confiden tial or which is provided on a confidential basis 
shall, upon cause being shown, be treated as such by the competent authorities.  Such information 
shall not be disclosed without permission of the party submitting it.  Parties providing confidential 
information may be requested to furnish non-conf idential summaries thereof or, if such parties 
indicate that such information cannot be summarized , the reasons why a summary cannot be provided.  
However, if the competent authorities find that a requ est for confidentiality is not warranted and if the 
party concerned is either unwilling to make the info rmation public or to authorize its disclosure in 
generalized or summary form, the authorities ma y disregard such information unless it can be 
demonstrated to their satisfaction from appropria te sources that the information is correct.   
 
Article 21 - Confidentiality 
 
1.  The information received shall be used only for the purpose for which it has been requested.   
 
2.  No information of confidential nature recei ved or provided on confidential basis shall be 
revealed without the written permission of the entit y, being the supplier of the information.   
 3.  The information shall be considered confidential, if:     a)  making them public has unfavourable effects on the person releasing them, or for the 
supplier or the source of such information;   
 b)  parties have augmented, that they ha ve received the information on confidentiality 
basis.   
 4.  The interested parties, having available c onfidential information, shall provide a detailed 
summary on this information, without affecting the confidentiality, sufficient to understand the 
essence of the information provided as confidential.   In exceptional circumstances, the parties can 
explain that for such information there can not be  submitted a summary, providing the reasons even in 
writing.    G/SG/Q1/ALB/8 
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  5.  The  shall not be considered confidential, if:   
  a)  a request for confidentiality is not arguable;    b)  although the provider does not authorise the disclosure of the information, in any 
form, they are verified through other reliable sources.   
 
6.  The provisions ditto do not detain the commi ssion to use of the data mentioned in the above 
points of this Article as reference for the general information and, specifically, for the argumentation 
of the decisions taken, in accordance with this law.    
 
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