WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
13 January 2010 
 
 (10-0128) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
  
 
INFORMATION TO BE NOTIFIED TO THE COMMITTEE WHERE  
A SAFEGUARD INVESTIGATION IS TERMINATED 
WITH NO SAFEGUARD MEASURE IMPOSED 
 
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
(Toilet Paper
) 
   The following communication, dated 16 December 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the Dominican Republic. 
 
_______________ 
   The Permanent Mission of the Dominican Repub lic to the World Trade Organization (WTO) 
and other international economic or ganizations at Geneva presents its compliments to Mr Johannes 
Human, the Director of the Rules Division of the World Trade Organization, and hereby notifies the annexed Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-044-2009 of 26 November 2009, publishe d in the newspaper 
El Caribe  of the Dominican Republic on 7 December 2009, whereby the Regulatory Commission on 
Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures of the Dominican Republic resolved to terminate the 
general safeguard investigation concerning increased  imports into the Dominican Republic of toilet 
paper, classified under subheading 4818.10.00 of th e Dominican Republic's tariff schedule.  This 
investigation was initiated pursuant to Resoluti on No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009 of 9 October 2009 and 
notified to the WTO Committee on Safeguards on 26 October 2009.   To this end, we hereby attach the following document: 
 
• Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-044-2009 of 26 November 2009. 
 G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
Page 2  
 
  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices  
and Safeguard Measures 
Santo Domingo, National District 
 
"Year of the Centenary of the Birth of Juan Bosch" 
 
RESOLUTION No. CDC-RD-SG-044-2009 
 
TERMINATING THE GENERAL SAFEGUARD INVESTIGATION CONCERNING 
INCREASED IMPORTS OF TOILET PAPE R INTO THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 
INITIATED PURSUANT TO RESO LUTION NO. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009. 
 
The Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures (hereinafter "the Commission"), in exercise of the legal powers c onferred upon it by Article 84(a) of Law No. 1-02 on 
Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures of 18 January 2002 (hereinafter "the Law"), hereby 
issues the following Resolution:  
WHEREAS: 
 
The Dominican Republic is bound by the WTO Agreem ents, including the Anti-Dumping Agreement, 
the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the Agreement on Safeguards; 
 The Agreement on Safeguards of the World Trade Organization (hereinafter "WTO") sets out the 
substantive and procedural provisions fo r the adoption of safeguard measures; 
 
On the eighteenth (18
th) day of January of the year two thousand and two (2002), the 
Dominican Republic enacted Law No. 1-02 on Unfair  Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures, which 
establishes a set of provisions and procedures to prevent or remedy any injury to a domestic industry that may be caused by unfair foreign trade practices and to provide for appropriate temporary measures in the event of imports in such increased  quantities and under such conditions as to cause or 
threaten to cause serious injury to domestic produ cers of like products, Article 82 of which provides 
for the creation of the Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures, 
which is responsible for ensuring complian ce with the provisions of the said Law; 
 The powers and duties of the Commission under the aforementioned Law include to conduct, at the 
request of an interested party or ex officio, any investigation required for the purposes of this Law 
and its regulations in order to determine, wh ere appropriate, the application of anti-dumping and 
countervailing duties and/or safeguard
 measures  (emphasis added); 
 In this connection, on 10 August 2009, the legal representative of INDUSTRIAS NIGUA, C. 
POR A.  submitted to the Regulatory Commission a re quest (received on 17 August 2009) for the 
application of safeguard measures to imports of toilet paper falling under tari ff heading 4818.10.00 on 
the grounds of "the exceptionally large volumes from El  Salvador and Costa Rica", and, enclosed with 
this request, certain information considered to be confidential; 
 Following the request submitted by INDUSTRIAS NIGUA, C. POR A. , the Investigations 
Department (hereinafter "the DEI") conducted th e relevant study and issued preliminary report 
No. CDC-RD/SG/2009-003 (hereinafter "the technical report"); 
  G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
 Page 3 
 
 
  Consequently, on 9 October 2009, the Commissi on issued Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009 
providing as follows for the initiation of a general saf eguard investigation following the increase in 
imports of toilet paper into the Dominican Republic:   ARTICLE 1:  TO INITIATE , at the request of the domestic industry, the investigation 
procedure with a view to the application of saf eguard measures to all imports of toilet paper 
identified under tariff subheading 4818.10.00, pursuant to the provisions of the main body of this Resolution; 
  ARTICLE 2:  TO REQUIRE  the manufacturers constituting the domestic industry for 
products that are like or directly competitive w ith the imported products  to provide additional 
and supplementary information to enable this  Commission to determine, on the basis of 
objective and quantifiable evidence, that the in creased imports and the conditions in which 
these are effected have caused or threaten to cau se serious injury to the domestic industry and 
that there is a causal link between  these increased imports and the injury or threat of serious 
injury, taking into consideration existing nati onal and international statutory and regulatory 
provisions in this field; 
  ARTICLE 3:  TO INFORM  the interested parties of the tentative schedule of the 
investigation, namely: 
 
(a) The date of initiation of the investigation (as of the publication of the notice in a 
national newspaper); 
(b) the deadline for other interested parties to notify the Commission of their interest in 
participating in the investigation ( 15 days after the date of initiation); 
(c) the deadline for filing arguments concerning the possible application of a safeguard 
measure (30 days as from the date of initiation); 
(d) the deadline for holding the hearing (60 days before the final determination). 
 ARTICLE 4:  TO INFORM  the interested parties, importers, users and other sectors 
involved in the procedure that they will have a period of thirty (30) days as from the date of 
publication of the notice to submit testimonial  and documentary evidence to the Commission 
for the purpose of presenting their cases. 
 
 ARTICLE 5:  TO IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY  this Resolution and the initiation of an 
investigation with a view to the imposition of safeguard measures to: 
 
(a) Governments the exports of which could be af fected by the application of a safeguard 
measure, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;  and 
(b) the WTO Committee on Safeguards. 
 ARTICLE 6:  TO AUTHORIZE  the publication in a national newspaper and on the 
Commission website ( www.cdc.gob.do
) of the notice of initiation of an investigation with a 
view to the imposition of safeguard measures; 
 
 ARTICLE 7:  TO PROVIDE  that any communication made in accordance with the relevant 
provisions shall indicate the name, domicile, address, e-mail address and telephone and fax 
numbers of the sender, and be sent to the following address: 
 G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
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   Commission Reguladora de Prácticas De sleales en el Comercio y Medidas de 
Salvaguardias 
 Calle Jesús de Manuel Troncoso No. 18 
 Ensanche Piantini  Santo Domingo (República Dominicana) 
 Tel.:  +1 (809) 476-0111 
  PARAGRAPH:   Interested parties shall submit to the Commission the forms for importers, 
exporters and the domestic industry, as appr opriate, as well as all other documents and 
declarations, in two (2) written versions, one c onfidential and one public, in one (1) original 
and two (2) copies, plus an electronic version.   The forms are available at the Commission's 
headquarters and on the website http://www.cdc.gob.do
.  The period for which evidence and 
relevant information concerning this investig ation must be submitted shall be from 2006 to 
2008; 
 
 ARTICLE 8:  TO INFORM  the applicant INDUSTRIAS NIGUA  that, within 
thirty (30) days of the date of publication of the notice of initiation of the investigation, it will 
be required to submit to the Commission a plan for adjusting the enterprise, which shall be 
duly justified and in accordance with the objec tives pursued through the application of the 
requested measure." 
 
Subsequently, and in strict compliance with Artic le 63, Sole paragraph, of Law No. 1-02, which 
provides that " In the cases referred to in (a) and (b), the Commission shall publish the Resolution 
containing the decision to accept or reject the initiation of the investigation in a national newspaper 
with wide circulation ", on 12 October 2009 the Commission published, in the newspaper 
"El Nacional ", the text of Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-20 09 in order to initiate the investigation 
procedure concerning imports of toile t paper into the Dominican Republic; 
 On the same date, the Commission submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SEREX), 
Communication No. 746, requesting, pursuant to Arti cle 64 of Law No. 1-02 and in strict compliance 
with ARTICLE FIVE, paragraph (b), of Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009, that " the 
governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Colomb ia, the United States of America, Trinidad and 
Tobago and Mainland China  be notified that their exports could be affected by the application of a 
safeguard measure;  and that the Committee on Saf eguards of the World Trade Organization (WTO ) 
be notified of the aforementioned Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009, whereby the Regulatory 
Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Me asures resolved to initiate, upon request, in 
accordance with the provisions of Article 59 of Law No. 1-02, an investigation with a view to the 
application of safeguard measu res to imports of toilet paper " (emphasis added); 
 Paragraph 1 of Article 12 of the Agreement on Safeguards, " Notification and Consultation ", the 
provisions of which are applicable in this matter, states that " A Member shall immediately notify the 
Committee on Safeguards upon: 
 
 (a) Initiating an investigatory process relating to serious injury or threat thereof and the 
reasons for it; 
 
 (…) " 
 
In spite of the fact that the abovementioned notification was received on 12 October 2009 by the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SEREX), which was to forward it to the Permanent Mission of the 
Dominican Republic to the WTO at Geneva, Switzer land, which, in turn, was to notify it to the 
WTO Committee on Safeguards, it was only on 26 October 2009 that the notification was sent to the WTO Committee.  G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
 Page 5 
 
 
   
This Commission has noted that, from 12 October 2009, that is to say the date of initiation of the 
investigation corresponding to the publication of  Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009, to the day 
on which notification was made to the WTO Co mmittee on Safeguards, namely 26 October 2009, a 
period of fourteen (14) days elapsed; 
 
With regard to the notification process provided fo r in Article 12.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards, 
this Commission has noted that certain disputes br ought before WTO panels were unsuccessful given 
that the notifications to the Committee on Safeguards were not submitted " immediately ", as required 
by the above Article, as was the case with Korea – Dairy Products , in which the designated panel 
ruled that:  " (…) the 14-day period between Korea's initiatio n of the investigation and its presentation 
of the notification related thereto, does not respect  the requirements for "immediate" notification and 
is in violation of Article 12.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards ". 
 Furthermore, and with regard to the time frame in  which such notifications must be submitted to the 
WTO Committee on Safeguards, the Appellate Body has determined the following: 
  " United States - Wheat Gluten 
  As regards the meaning of the word "immediatel y" in the chapeau to Article 12.1, we agree 
with the Panel that the ordinary meaning of th e word "implies a certain urgency".  The degree 
of urgency or immediacy required depends on a case-by-case assessment, account being taken 
of the administrative difficulties involved in preparing the notification, and also of the 
character of the information supplied.  As previ ous panels have recognized , relevant factors in 
this regard may include the complexity of the no tification and the need for translation into one 
of the WTO's official languages.  Clearly, howev er, the amount of time taken to prepare the 
notification must, in all cases, be kept to a mini mum, as the underlying obligation is to notify 
"immediately"." 
 In the light of the foregoing and in order to secure  effective protection for the domestic industry and 
safeguard the right of defence of other parties which might have an interest in the investigation, this 
Commission considers it appropriate to terminate the general safeguard investigation concerning 
increased imports of toilet paper into the Do minican Republic, initiated pursuant to Resolution 
No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009 of 9 October 2009, in order to initiate a new procedur e and ensure that all 
institutions involved in the process of notification to the WTO at Geneva comply in full with the 
procedural provisions established in the Agreem ent on Safeguards and in Law No. 1-02 and its 
Implementing Regulations; 
 
HAVING REGARD  to Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards; 
 HAVING REGARD  to Law No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures of 
18 January 2002;  
HAVING REGARD  to the Implementing Regulations for La w No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices 
and Safeguard Measures;  HAVING REGARD  to File No. CDC-RD/SG/2009-003; 
 
HAVING REGARD  to Resolution No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009 of 9 October 2009; 
 G/SG/N/9/DOM/1 
Page 6  
 
  AFTER DELIBERATING THE CASE, THE REGULATORY COMMISSION ON 
UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES AND SAFEGUARD MEASURES 
 
HEREBY RESOLVES: 
 ARTICLE 1:  TO TERMINATE  the general safeguard investiga tion concerning increased imports 
of toilet paper into the Dominican Re public, initiated pursuant to Resolution 
No. CDC-RD-SG-039-2009 of 9 October 2009, for the reasons set out in the main body of this Resolution;  
ARTICLE 2:  TO ORDER  that this Resolution be notified to all interested parties and published on 
the Commission website.  This Resolution has been approved and signed by the unanimity of the votes of the Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures.  Done at Santo Domingo de 
Guzmán, National District, capital of the Domi nican Republic, on this the twenty-sixth (26
th) day of 
November of the year two thousand and nine (2009).  Signed:  
Maximina Santana de Liriano 
Chairperson 
 
Mario E. Pujols Ortíz 
Commissioner Hugo Ramírez Risk 
Commissioner  
 
Jean Alain Rodríguez 
Commissioner Iván Ernesto Gatón 
Commissioner 
 
__________