WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
11 May 2012 
 (12-2567) 
Committee on Safeguards Original: Spanish 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS, REGULATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE 
PROCEDURES RELATING TO SAFEGUARD MEASURES 
 
ECUADOR 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 18 April 2012, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Ecuador.  
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  In accordance to Article 12.6 of the Agre ement on Safeguards, Ecuador hereby submits 
Resolution No. 43 of the Foreign Trade Committe e entitled "Requirements and Procedures for the 
Application of Safeguard Measures", published in  Official Journal No. 677 of 5 April 2012. G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  No. 43 
 
THE FOREIGN TRADE COMMITTEE 
 
Whereas: 
 
 Pursuant to Article 261.5 of the Constitution of the Republic, the central State shall have 
exclusive jurisdiction, inter alia , over economic, tax, customs, tariff, and foreign trade policies; 
  Ecuador signed the Protocol of  Accession to the World Trade Organization in the city of 
Geneva on 27 September 1995, thereby undertakin g to apply the provisions of the Agreement 
on Safeguards;   The WTO Agreement on Safeguards is a regulatory instrument setting out the criteria and procedures for determining the conditions under which a safeguard measure may be applied; 
 
 The Organic Code of Production, Trade and In vestment (COPCI) entered into force with the 
publication of a Supplement to Official Journal No. 351 of 29 December 2010, and Book IV of that 
Code establishes the regulatory frame work for the country's foreign trade policy as well as its bodies 
and instruments;  
 Article 71 of COPCI stipulates that the body entrusted with approving national public trade 
policies shall be the Committee on Foreign Trade (COMEX);   Article 72(i) of COPCI establishes, as one of  the duties and powers of COMEX, "the adoption 
of the rules and measures needed to counteract unfai r international trade practices affecting domestic 
production, exports or, in general,  the country's trade interests"; 
  Article 88 of COPCI stipulates that "[t]he Stat e shall promote transparen cy and efficiency in 
international markets and shall encourage equal conditions and opportunities.  For these purposes and 
in accordance with the provisions of this Code and of  the relevant international instruments, it shall 
adopt appropriate trade measures to:  (b) restrict or  regulate any imports that increase significantly and 
are made under such conditions as to cause or threaten  serious injury to domestic producers of like or 
directly competitive products";   Executive Decree No. 733 was issued pursuant to  the first general provision of the above 
mentioned Code and published in Official J ournal No. 435 of 27 April 2011, establishing the 
Regulation to Implement Book IV of the Organi c Code of Production, Trade and Investment, 
Regarding Trade Policy, its Supervisory Bodies and Instruments;   In compliance with the mandate of Article 53 of  the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the 
Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investment , which provides that "[t]he administrative unit 
established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration shall be the Investigating 
Authority for trade defence for the purposes of the provisions of Article 75 of the Organic Code of 
Production, Trade and Investment and these Regulations ", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and 
Integration, by Ministerial Decision No. 00 00074, published in Official Journal No. 547 
of 3 October 2011, appointed the Technical Unde r-Secretariat for Foreign Trade, through the 
Directorate of Trade Defence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration, as the new 
investigating authority for trade defence for the purposes of the Organic Code of Production, Trade 
and Investment and the Regulations to Implement Book IV;   G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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   Article 83 of the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of Production, 
Trade and Investment stipulates that:  "[t]he re quirements and procedures for applying for the 
imposition of safeguard measures shall be set as pr ovided in the relevant international rules and 
in resolutions issued by COMEX "; 
 
 By Ministerial Decision No. MCPEC-2012-007 of 6 February 2012, Dr Rubén Morán Castro 
was delegated the powers and duties of the Mini stry responsible for coordinating production, 
employment and competitiveness, for the period fro m 8 February to 12 Febr uary 2012, as substitute 
for the Minister responsible for the coordination of production;  
 The Committee on Foreign Trade in plenary session examined and approved technical report 
No. 02/AI/DDC/2012 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration/Technical Under-Secretariat for Foreign Trade/Directorate of  Trade Defence concerning the procedures for the 
investigation of dumping and the applica tion of safeguard measures recommending, inter alia , the 
approval of " the requirements and proceedings for the application of safeguard measures "; 
 
In exercise of the powers conferred on it by the law, 
 
Hereby resolves: 
 
To approve the requirements and proceedings for the application of safeguard measures. 
 
Article 1 – Definitions: 
 
(a) Investigating authority:   The investigating authority  for trade defence is the 
Directorate of Trade Defence/Technical U nder-Secretariat for Foreign Trade/Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration. 
 
(b) Sectorial Ministry competent for the determination of serious injury or threat of 
serious injury:  The institution which, by its powers and areas of competence, 
governs the domestic industry that has a pplied for the measure and is hence 
responsible for conducting the analysis to dete rmine serious injury or threat of serious 
injury; 
 
(c) Domestic industry:   The producers as a whole of the like or directly competitive 
products operating within the national territo ry are those whose collective output of 
like or directly competitive products constitu tes at least 40 per cent of total domestic 
production of those products that are claimed to be affected by the increased imports.  
In the case of fragmented producers and sm all and medium enterprises, that share 
would be 25 per cent; 
 
(d) Serious injury:   Significant overall impairment in the position of a domestic 
industry; 
 
(e) Threat of serious injury:   Serious injury that is clearly imminent.  A determination 
of the existence of a threat of serious injury shall be based on facts and not merely on allegation, conjecture or remote possibility; 
 G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  (f) Interested parties:   The investigating authority shall consider as interested parties the 
following, but not necessarily all of the following: 
 
(f.1) An exporter or foreign producer or the importer of a product subject to 
investigation, or a trade or business association a majority of the members of 
which are producers, exporters or  importers of such products; 
 
(f.2) The government of the country or countries of origin or provenance of the 
products subject to investigation; 
 
(f.3) A producer of a like or directly competitive product in Ecuador; 
 
(f.4) Domestic industrial users and domes tic consumers, provided they are 
representative and it is possible to identify them; 
 
(f.5) Those that the investigating authority deems should be interested parties. 
 Article 2 – Submission of the application.  The application for a safeguard investigation shall be 
submitted by the representatives of the domestic i ndustry that produces like or directly competitive 
products and considers that it is being affect ed or threatened by the increased imports. 
 
 The application for an investigation shall be submitted on behalf of the domestic industry, in 
writing, to the investigating authority.  It sha ll be clear and precise, and shall contain reasoned 
information and detailed evidence that the increased  imports of the like or directly competitive 
product are causing or threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry.  
 Together with the application, the interest ed party shall submit the duly completed form 
provided by the investigating authority.   The application, the form and the attached doc uments shall be submitted in the original plus 
three copies, along with a digital version of the requested information.  
Article 3 – Application requirements.  In addition to the mandatory in formation to be provided in 
the form, the application shall contain, as a minimum, the following information: 
 
(a) General information concerning the app licant(s) and, in the case of a legal 
representative, the relevant accreditation documents and a certified copy of the power 
of attorney if the applicant is represented by an attorney; 
 
(b) Documentary evidence that the applicant is a representative of the domestic industry 
that produces like or directly competitive products within the meaning of Article 1(c) above; 
 
(c) Technical description of the imported pr oduct or products concerned, with tariff 
headings and the country of provenance; 
 
(d) The names and legal addresses of the im porters, exporters and foreign producers, 
if known; 
 
(e) Data concerning the rate and amount of  the increase in imports of the product 
concerned, in absolute terms and in relation to production;  the share of the domestic 
market taken by increased imports;  changes in the level of sales, production, productivity, capacity utilisation, profits and losses and employment;  G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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(f) Objective elements to establish a causal li nk, with a description of the causes of the 
serious injury or threat thereof and the extent  to which such injury or threat of injury 
is attributable to the imports under investigation; 
 
(g) Statement of the reasons why the applicati on of the measure is in the public interest; 
 
(h) Express undertaking to submit the relevant documents to the investigating authority 
for verification of the information supplied; 
 
(i) Details of the evidence provided with the application; 
 
(j) Identification of the confidential documentati on, justification of its confidentiality and 
a non-confidential summary or version thereof; 
 
(k) Evidence of the existence of legal persons appearing among the applicants; 
 
(l) The information provided with the a pplication shall date from no more than 
three years prior to the submission of the application for an investigation; 
 
(m) Domicile of the domestic industry for notification purposes. 
 
Article 4 – Reception and review of the application .  Upon receiving the application, the 
investigating authority shall, within a period of no more than 15 days, review it and decide whether 
the application is:  
(a) Admissible .  If the application meets all of the requirements laid down in Articles 2 
and 3 above, the investigating authority shall declare the application to be admissible 
and so notify the applicant within the 15 days stipulated in this Article; 
 
(b) Incomplete .  If the application is incomplete, the investigating authority shall so 
notify the applicant, who shall have a peri od of 30 days from the date of notification 
to comply with the relevant requirements,  during which time the period of 15 days for 
a decision shall be interrupted; 
 
(c) Withdrawn .  If, after the 30-day period referred to  in (b) above the domestic industry 
has not completed the application, the i nvestigating authority shall declare the 
application to have been withdrawn and sh all close the file in its current state. 
 Article 5 – Confidential information .  The applicant may request confidential treatment by the 
investigating authority of part of the informati on provided, specifying the reason for its request and 
properly identifying the information concerned.  Wh ere such treatment is well founded and justified, 
the investigating authority shall accept the request  provided the requesting party supplies a summary 
that gives an overall and reasonable understa nding of the said confidential information. 
  In exceptional cases, the interested parties may cl aim that part of the confidential information 
cannot be summarized.  In such cases, they shall provi de the investigating authority with reasons to 
justify their claim.  Should the investigating authorit y consider that any part of the information is not 
truly confidential, and the interested party does not  wish to publicize or summarize it, nor disclose it 
in general terms or summarized form, the investigating authority shall treat it with strict confidentiality, but may choose not to take it into consideration in its investigation. 
 G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  Article 6 – Acceptance of the application .  The investigating authority shall have a period 
of 30 days to evaluate, as far as possible, the accu racy and adequacy of the information and evidence 
provided and to decide whether there are grounds for accepting the application.  This 30-day period 
shall run from the date of reception in accordance with Article 4(a) and (b) above.  
 During the same period of time, the investigating authority shall appoint the competent 
sectoral Ministry and transmit to it, within a period of no more than five days, all of the information 
relating to the application received from th e domestic industry, both confidential and 
non-confidential, in accordance with the third general pr ovision of this Resolution.  Within the period 
of 30 days provided for in this Article, the i nvestigating authority shall proceed as follows: 
 
(a) If on the basis of the report submitted by the competent sectoral Ministry it is found 
that there is sufficient evid ence to justify the acceptance of  the application, it shall 
proceed in accordance with Article 7 of this Resolution; 
 
(b) If there are no grounds for initiating inves tigation, in accordance with the paragraph 
above, it shall so notify the applicant with in a period of 7 days following the time 
period stipulated in this Article. 
 Article 7 – Initiation of the investigation .  According to Article 82 of the Regulations to Implement 
Book IV of the Organic Code of Production, Trad e and Investment, investigations may be initiated 
ex officio or at the request of an interested party. 
  In special circumstances, when it is in the public interest, the investigating authority may 
decide to initiate an investigation without having  received an application from or on behalf of the 
domestic industry.  It shall do so only if it has suffici ent evidence of serious injury or threat of serious 
injury to the domestic industry and of the causal link justifying the initiation of an investigation, in 
accordance with the relevant provisions of this Resolution.   As regards the initiation of an investigation at the request of a party, once it has been established that there is evidence to justify th e acceptance of the application in accordance with 
Article 6 above, the investigating authority shall issue the decision to initiate the investigation. 
 
 In the said decision, the investigating authorit y shall communicate to the interested parties the 
sectoral Ministry in charge of determining the existe nce of serious injury or threat of serious injury, 
which Ministry shall be responsible for dealing with  requests for information, verification visits, and 
other activities necessary to reaching the said determination. 
 
Article 8 – Adjustment plan .  Once the decision to initiate the investigation has been issued, the 
applicant, within an additional pe riod of 60 days, shall present to the investigating authority a duly 
substantiated plan for the adjustment of the domestic industry in accordance with the objectives 
pursued through the imposition of the requested measur e.  This adjustment plan shall be transmitted to 
the competent sectoral Ministry. 
 
 To enable to them to carry out their functi ons properly the investigating authority and the 
competent sectoral Ministry may, in the course of th e investigation, pay visits to the domestic industry 
and the interested parties in order to veri fy such information as they deem relevant. 
 
Article 9 – Publication, notification and initiation of the investigation .  The decision to initiate the 
prior investigation shall be transmitted to the Offi cial Journal for publication within the stipulated 
period following the date of the decision.  Within that same period, the WTO Committee on Safeguards shall be notified pursuant to Article 12 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, together 
with the governments of the countries whose exports  could be affected by the application of a  G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  safeguard measure and the other parties recognized as interested parties.  In addition, the said decision 
shall be published in a newspaper with large circ ulation in Ecuador, for the information of all 
concerned.  Article 10 – Factors .  In the investigation to determine wh ether increased imports of a particular 
product or group of products have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic 
industry producing like or directly competitive prod ucts, the competent sectoral Ministry shall take 
account of all relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing on the situation 
of that industry, i.e. the rates and amounts of th e increase in imports of the product concerned in 
absolute and relative terms, the share of the domes tic market taken by increased imports, changes in 
the level of sales, production, prod uctivity, capacity utilization, profits  and losses, and employment as 
stipulated in Article 4.2(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards.  Article 11 – Technical report .  Where the domestic industry has requested the application of 
provisional measures, the investigating authority shall provide COMEX with a technical report in 
which due consideration is given to the report establis hing serious injury or threat of serious injury 
provided by the competent sectoral Ministry within a period of no more than 4 months.  COMEX shall issue a decision as rapidly as possible, based on the reasoning and conclusions of the 
investigating authority, providing, where appropria te, for the application of provisional measures in 
accordance with Articles 88 and 89 of the Regulations  to Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of 
Production, Trade and Investment. 
 
Article 12 – Application of provisional measures .  Provisional safeguard measures shall be applied 
in accordance with the Articles 88 and 89 of the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investment.  
Article 13 – Duration of the provisional measures .  The provisional safeguard measures shall be 
applied for a period not exceeding 200 days, and shall be applied in conformity with Article 6 of the 
WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  Article 14 – Publication and notification of provisional measures .  Once COMEX has been 
presented with the technical report recommending the application of provisional measures, the 
investigating authority shall notify the WTO Commi ttee on Safeguards of the said recommendation in 
conformity with Article 12.4 of the Agreement on Safeguards.   Should COMEX decide in favour of applying the provisional measures, the corresponding decision shall be submitted for publication in th e Official Journal within a maximum period 
of 15 days from the date of the decision.  During the same period, notification shall be given to the 
government of the exporting country and the parties th at have been recognized as interested parties.  
The said decision shall also be published in a news paper of wide circulation in Ecuador for the 
information of all interested parties.  Article 15 – Consultations .  Consultations shall take place immediately after the provisional 
measures are taken as stipulated in Article 12.4 of  the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and pursuant to 
Article 91 of the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the Organi c Code of Production, Trade and 
Investment.  Article 16 – Public hearing .  The investigating authority shall inv ite the interested parties to attend a 
public hearing as provided for in Article 3.1 of th e Agreement on Safeguards.  The hearing shall take 
place at least 15 days after the invitation, and in any case a minimum of 60 days prior to the submission of the final report.  Each one of the parties shall be given the opportunity it needs to 
submit evidence, to express its opinions and/or provid e explanations, to reply to the statements of the G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  other parties and to give its views on whether or not the proposed safeguard measure is in the public 
interest.  Article 17 – Second round of consultations .  Consultations shall be held with WTO Member 
countries having a substantial interest as exporters  in the proposed definitive safeguard measure.  
These consultations shall be held within a minimum of 30 days prior to the adoption of the definitive 
measure.  Article 18 – Final report .  Once the period for completing all of the different procedures laid down 
in the decision to initiate the investigation and in subsequent decisions has elapsed, the investigating 
authority shall provide COMEX with a final report c ontaining the conclusions of the investigation to 
serve as a basis for a decision unless there are substantiated reports from other sources containing valid evidence to the contrary.   This report shall contain precise details of all of the elements of fact and law on which the 
recommendation will be based.  The recommendation may either: 
 
(a) Authorize the application of the definitive safeguard measure in conformity with 
Article 93 of the Regulations to Implem ent Book IV of the Organic Code of 
Production, Trade and Investment;  or 
 
(b) Declare that the measure  should not applied and, wh ere appropriate, revoke the 
provisional measure that has been adopted. 
  The decision to adopt a definitive safeguard measure shall be notified within a period 
of 30 days from the date of the decision to the WTO Committee on Safeguards and to the interested 
parties that participated in the investigation process. 
  Within that same period, the said decision shall be sent for publication in the Official Journal, 
and the National Customs Service of Ecuador sha ll be notified with a view to implementation. 
 Article 19 - Time-limit for the investigation .  The investigation shall be concluded within 8 months 
from the date of publication of the decision to initia te the investigation in the Official Journal.  
In exceptional cases, as determined by the investigati ng authority, this period may be extended by an 
additional four months.  Article 20 - Definitive safeguard .  The definitive safeguard measure mentioned in Article 18(a) 
above shall not be applied for a period of more  than 4 months, unless it is extended pursuant to 
Article 93 of the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of Production, Trade and 
Investment and Article 7 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.  Article 21 - Liberalization of the measure .  In order to facilitate adjustment, if the safeguard 
measure is applied for over one year, it shall be pr ogressively liberalized, at regular intervals, during 
the period of application. 
  Measures that are extended in accordance with  Article 7 of the Agreement on Safeguards 
shall not be more restrictive than those in force at the end of the initial period, and the progressive 
liberalization shall be continued as estab lished during the period of extension. 
  G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  GENERAL PROVISIONS 
 
FIRST  – The provisions set out in Article XIX of  the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 
(GATT 1994) and in the WTO Agreement on Safeguard s constitute the genera l reference framework 
on safeguards for the COPCI provisions, the Regula tions to Implement Book IV thereof, and this 
Resolution.  Should there be any gaps or legal inc onsistencies, the said international provisions would 
prevail, in accordance with the hierarc hy of laws applicable in the country. 
 SECOND  – The investigating authority shall guarantee that the duly recognized parties that have 
established a genuine interest in the investigati on are given access to non-confidential information in 
the file and to the non-confidential summary.  At  the same time, however, it shall guarantee the 
inaccessibility of the confidential record.  THIRD  – The investigating authority shall manage, f ile and dispose of the original non-confidential 
record, and three identical copies of the non-confidential record as follows: 
 
 1. The original confidential and non-confid ential records shall be deposited, numbered, 
reviewed, and filed in the Office of the Investigating Authority. 
  2. The first certified non-confidential copy  shall be preserved and used by the legal 
department of the investigating author ity, which shall conduct the administrative 
procedures. 
  3. The second certified non-confidential copy  shall be preserved and used by the 
technical department of the investigating authority. 
 
 4. The third certified non-confidential copy  and the first and only confidential copy 
reproduced by the investigating authority  shall be transmitted to the competent 
sectoral Ministry for the analysis and determination of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry in  question based on technical criteria and 
provisions of the WTO Agreements.  In this case, upon taking delivery, the sectoral Ministry receiving the first and only confidential copy shall undertake to treat the 
information with the utmost secrecy and shall be responsible for its safe custody. 
 FOURTH  – All public institutions or State entities, or  public or mixed enterprises shall cooperate 
with the investigating authority during the investig ation.  They shall submit reports, analyses, duly 
completed forms prepared by the investigating author ity or whatever is requested of them within the 
deadline notified by the authority, duly completed and annotated where appropriate, also within the 
time-limit stipulated by the investigating authority, in conformity with Article 99 of the Regulations to 
Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of Produc tion, Trade and Investment and pursuant to the 
legal provisions on administrative responsibility and to the second paragraph of Article 101 of the said 
Regulations.  Likewise, in the same circumstances, all public institutions or State entities, or public or 
mixed enterprises shall cooperate with the sectoral Ministry responsible for the determination of 
injury or threat of injury. 
 FIFTH  – The investigating authority shall prepare the form to be transmitted to domestic producers 
and importers and to foreign exporters of the product under investigation. 
 G/SG/N/1/ECU/6 
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  DISABLING CLAUSE 
 
FIRST  – Pursuant to Article 83 of the Regulations to Implement Book IV of the Organic Code of 
Production, which stipulates that COMEX is the ent ity responsible for establishing the requirements 
and procedures for applying for the imposition of safeguard measures, the provisions relating to 
safeguard measures in the Consolidated Legislat ive Text of the MICIP, issued by Executive 
Decree No. 3497, published in Official Journal 744 of  14 January 2003, shall be considered repealed. 
  This Resolution was adopted by the Fore ign Trade Committee (COMEX) at its session 
of 8 February 2012, and shall enter into for ce as from the date of its publication in the 
Official Journal. 
 s.) Dr Rubén Morán Castro, Chairman (E).  s.) Mr Jaime Albuja, Acting Secretary. 
 
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