. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q2/DOM/2 
22 October 2010 
 
 (10-5503) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(A) OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS ON 
INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION PROCEDURE AND THE REASONS FOR IT 
 
Replies to the Questions Posed by COLOMBIA
1 Regarding  
Notifications by the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC2 
 
(Polypropylene Bags and Tubular Fabric, Toilet Paper, and  
Certain Sports and Other Socks ) 
  
 The following communication, dated 20 October 2010, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the Dominican Republic.  
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 Question 1
 
 
 Please explain how your legislation est ablishes the form and the procedure for 
excluding, under the " substantial cause of serious injury, or threat of serious injury " exception, a 
country with which it has signed a free trade agreement from the application of a global 
safeguard pursuant to Article XIX of the GATT and the Agreement on Safeguards.  We 
specifically wish to know how the Dominican Repub lic conducted its analysis in the context of 
the investigations that it has initiated and that , for example, involve the United States, with 
which the Dominican Republic has signed  DR-CAFTA, containing this clause. 
 
Reply  
 
 The safeguard investigations initiated by the Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures of the Domini can Republic (the Commission) were requested 
under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  
 The foregoing was in accordance with Article 8.6.1 of the Free Trade Agreement between the 
Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States, which provides that "Each party retains 
its rights and obligations under Article XIX of the GATT 1994 and the Safeguards Agreement". 
 
Question 2
 
 
 Please explain whether your legislation, whic h does not expressly define a percentage for 
major proportion of the domestic industry, woul d allow investigations to be initiated with a 
percentage of, say, 25 per cent of the domestic industry.  The more so since, on the matter of 
representativeness, the case US - Lamb  (paragraph 7.218 of the Panel report) reaffirmed the 
                                                      
1 G/SG/Q2/DOM/1. 
2 G/SG/N/6/DOM/3 + Corr.1, G/SG/N/6 /DOM/4/Suppl.1 and G/SG/N/6/DOM/5. G/SG/Q2/DOM/2 
Page 2  
 
  need for investigating authorities to examine the relationship between the expression " major 
proportion " and the representativeness of the domestic industry, given that the fullest possible 
data coverage is required in order to maxi mize the accuracy of the investigation. 
 
Reply
 
 
 On the question of the percentage, in dum ping and subsidization cases, Article 34 of 
Law No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures authorizes the Commission to initiate an investigation procedure when domes tic producers supporting an application account for 
less than 25 per cent of total production of the like pr oducts produced by the domestic industry.  In the 
case of safeguards, initiation is justified when the inv estigation has been request ed by an enterprise or 
group of enterprises representing at least twenty fi ve (25) per cent of domestic production of the like 
or directly competitive product.  
Question 3
 
 
 We would like to know how the notified legislation complies with Article 9.1 of the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  Is the investigatio n conducted ex officio or must it be initiated 
at the request of an interested party?  Specifically , in the case of imports of toilet paper entering 
the Dominican Republic under tariff subheading 4818.10.00, for example, the investigation 
concerning this product has excluded imports from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, 
Turkey and Viet Nam, given that they are de veloping countries which collectively account for 
1.66 per cent of the imports under investigation,  pursuant to Article 9.1 of the WTO Agreement 
on Safeguards.  However, Colombia, which also accounts for less than 3 per cent of the imports 
under investigation, has not been excluded. 
 Reply
 
  In applying safeguard measures, the Commission gives consideration to the provisions of Article 72 of Law No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Prac tices and Safeguard Measures and Article 9.1 of the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards, with respect to developing countries and the percentage of 
representativeness in the imports under investigati on.  Accordingly, in cases where safeguard 
measures are adopted, the Commissi on makes the necessary exclusion. 
  In the specific case of the general safeguard investigation procedure relating to imports of 
toilet paper (subheading No. 4818.10.00 of the Fourth Amendment to the Tariff of the Dominican Republic), as can be seen from the inform ation provided in the preliminary technical 
report, during the period of investigation impor ts of toilet paper from Colombia exceeded the 
percentage established in the legi slation cited in the preceding paragr aph, and for that reason were not 
excluded.   For up-to-date information on this investigati on procedure, please visit our electronic portal:  
www.cdc.gob.do
. 
 
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