. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/CRI/8 
15 October 2008 
 
 (08-4946) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLE 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Replies to the Follow-Up Ques tions Posed by the UNITED STATES
1 
Regarding the Replies of COSTA RICA2 
 
  The following communication, dated 13 October 2008, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Costa Rica.  
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Question 1 
 
Article 38 (Publication) of the Regulations  notes that resolutions regarding the initiation 
of a safeguard investigation and the imposition of preliminary and/or final measures shall be 
published only once and at the cost of the int erested party.  Does Costa Rica allow interested 
parties access to review the non-confidential v ersions of these determinations and make copies?  
Additionally, please identify which national newspapers would publish these notifications, as 
well as where the Official Journal of the Centra l American Integration System can be located 
online.  
 
Reply
 
  Interested parties have full access to the case record with the exception of information which 
is by nature confidential or is provided on a confidential basis, as stipulated in Article 3 of the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  In such inst ances, interested parties have access only to 
non-confidential summaries provided for the purpose.  The resolutions initiating an investigation or 
imposing provisional or definitive measures are public and interested parties therefore have complete 
access to them in the case record.  An  extract containing the key points is what is usually published in 
the national press. 
 
 As regards the publication of resolutions in th e national newspapers, there are various options 
including La Nación  (www.nacion.com
), La República  (www.republica.net ), Diario Extra  
(www.diarioextra.com ), La Prensa Libre  (www.prensalibre.co.cr ), and Al Día  (www.aldia.co.cr ).  
The Central American Integration System has provide d for the establishment of an official journal, 
but since the journal has yet to be created it is not  available either on line or in print for the time 
being. 
                                                      
1 G/SG/Q1/CRI/7. 
2 G/SG/Q1/CRI/5. G/SG/Q1/CRI/8 
Page 2  
 
  Question 2 
 
Article 39 (Remedies) of the Regulations  states that "The remedies provided for in the 
domestic legislation of each State Party shal l lie against resolutions issued by national 
authorities".  Please clarify whether this mean s that the laws and regulations issued by 
Costa Rica with regard to the provision  of remedies are now superseded by these Regulations . 
 
Reply
 
  What Article 39 is intended to clarify is th at since the Regulations are common to all the 
Central American countries and each country has its own investigating authority, the remedies against 
decisions taken by each investigating authority are those provided for in the domestic legislation of 
the country imposing the safeguard measure.  
Question 3 
 
Article 41 (Amendments to the Regulations) of the Regulations  states that "Each 
State Party shall submit a semi-annual report to the Executive Comm ittee for Economic 
Integration, through SIECA, on the implementation  of this instrument".  Please clarify how and 
where these semi-annual reports will be ma de available to interested parties. 
 Reply
 
  It is important to clarify that the commitmen t undertaken by the Central American countries 
under this provision is not to submit a semi-annua l report but to keep the Executive Committee for 
Economic Integration informed about the implementati on of the Regulations.  In practice, this is done 
orally in the Committee's periodic meetings.  It s hould nevertheless be noted that safeguard measures 
have been infrequently used by the Central Ameri can countries and that it is therefore not customary 
to submit such reports.  
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