RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/M/4
13August 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-3204)
Committee onSafeguards
MINUTES OFTHE SPECIAL MEETING
HELD ON2-3NOVEMBER 1995
Chairman: Mr.J.Ruiz(Argentina)
1. TheCommitteeonSafeguardsheldaspecialmeetingon2-3November1995toreviewlegislative
notifications. Thefollowing agenda wasadopted:
A. Notifications oflegislation pursuant toArticle 12.6oftheAgreement
(i) NewZealand (G/SG/N/1/NZL/1)
(ii) Romania (G/SG/N/1/ROM/1)
(iii) United States (G/SG/N/1/USA/1)
(iv) Korea (G/SG/N/1/KOR/1)
B. Notifications without legislative text:
(i) Thailand (G/SG/N/1/THA/1)
(ii) Australia (G/SG/N/1/AUS/1)
(iii) Chile (G/SG/N/1/CHL/1)
(iv) Czech Republic (G/SG/N/1/CZE/1)
(v) Egypt (G/SG/N/1/EGY/1)
(vi) Hong Kong (G/SG/N/1/HKG/1)
(vii) Indonesia (G/SG/N/1/IDN/1)
(viii) Mauritius (G/SG/N/1/MUS/1)
(xi) Peru(G/SG/N/1/PER/1)
(x) Singapore (G/SG/N/1/SGP/1)
(xi) SriLanka (G/SG/N/1/LKA/1)
(xii) Venezuela (G/SG/N/1/VEN/1) +Corr.1
C. Schedule ofnotifications tobereviewed atthirdspecial meeting, tobeheldMonday
andTuesday 11and12December 1995.
2. Before theagenda wasadopted, theChairman indicated thatThailand, whose legislative text
wastohavebeenreviewed atthemeeting, hadpresented arevision ofitsnotification, which hadbeen
circulated inG/SG/N/1/THA/1/Rev.1 on18October 1995. Inthatnotification, Thailand hadinformed
theCommittee thatitsnotified legislation "isnotasafeguard lawinthesense oftheAgreement onG/SG/M/4
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Safeguards", andasked thatitsoriginal notification bewithdrawn, andthatthelegislation beremoved
from theagenda ofthemeeting. Inview ofthisrequest, theChairman proposed thatThailand 's
notification bemoved fromthelastitemunder point Aoftheagenda tothefirstitemunder point B.
Theagenda asadopted reflected thischange.
A. Notifications oflegislation pursuant toArticle 12.6oftheAgreement
3. TheChairman observed thattheprincipal itemontheagenda forthisspecial meeting wasthe
review oflegislation, andstated thatthereview would beconducted intheorder indicated intheagenda.
4. Hereminded Members thatthedeadline forsubmission ofwritten questions hadbeenadvanced
to12October 1995, three weeks before themeeting, inorder torelieve some oftheproblems caused
bylatesubmission ofquestions atthefirstspecial meeting, particularly theadministrative difficulties
experienced bytheSecretariat inreproducing, translating andcirculating thewritten questions. The
Chairman noted that,unfortunately, anumber ofquestions hadbeensubmitted afterthedeadline.
Hereminded Members thathehademphasized atthelastspecial meeting thatquestions submitted late
would notbecirculated. Nonetheless, theSecretariat hadmade every effort totranslate andcirculate
allquestions received. TheChairman observed thatthedeadline forsubmission ofwritten questions
forthenextspecial meeting toreview legislation was20November 1995, andexhorted Members to
make theirbestefforts toensure thatquestions were received bytheSecretariat bythatdate.
5. TheChairman reminded theCommittee oftheprocedures thathadbeenestablished forthe
conduct ofthereview oflegislation. Henoted thatthedeadline forsubmission totheSecretariat in
written form ofquestions asked orally atthemeeting was23November 1995.
6. TheChairman further recalled thatthiswould notbethelastopportunity forMembers topose
questionsconcerningtheotherMembers'legislativenotificationsthatweretobereviewedatthemeeting.
Options fortheprocedures tobeusedforfuture reviews oflegislative notifications, bothforinitial
notificationsandforrevisitationofpreviously-reviewednotifications,wouldbediscussedatthefollowing
special meeting oftheCommittee. Tothisend,theChairman requested thatMembers begin tothink
about whatwould bethebestwaytoproceed inthistask,andtotransmit anyideas inthisregard to
theChairman oftheCommittee ortotheSecretariat.
7. TheCommittee proceeded tothesubstantive review ofthelegislations ontheagenda.
8. Thequestions concerning thelegislation ofNew Zealand canbefound inthefollowing
documents:
G/SG/W/48(+ Corr.1) Submitted bytheUnited States
G/SG/W/50 Submitted byCanada
G/SG/W/65 Submitted bytheEuropean Communities
G/SG/W/68 Submitted byKorea
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/175 TotheUnited States, Canada, theEuropean Communities, andKorea
9. Thequestions concerning thelegislation ofRomania canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/44 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/51 Submitted byCanada
G/SG/W/61 Submitted bytheUnited StatesG/SG/M/4
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G/SG/W/64 Submitted bytheEuropean Communities
G/SG/W/70 Submitted byKorea
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/118 &123 ToAustralia
G/SG/W/119 &123 ToCanada
G/SG/W/122 &123 TotheUnited States
G/SG/W/121 &123 TotheEuropean Communities
G/SG/W/120 &123 ToKorea
10. Thequestions concerning thelegislation oftheUnited States canbefound inthefollowing
documents:
G/SG/W/39 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/46 &93 Submitted byJapan
G/SG/W/49(+Corr.1+Rev.1) Submitted byKorea
G/SG/W/52 Submitted byCanada
G/SG/W/63 Submitted bytheEuropean Communities
G/SG/W/67 Submitted byNewZealand
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/160 ToAustralia
G/SG/W/163 ToJapan
G/SG/W/164 ToKorea
G/SG/W/161 ToCanada
G/SG/W/162 TotheEuropean Communities
G/SG/W/165 ToNewZealand
11. Thequestions concerning Korea canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/45 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/47(+Corr.1) &92 Submitted byJapan
G/SG/W/53 Submitted byCanada
G/SG/W/60 &91 Submitted bytheUnited States
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/112 ToAustralia
G/SG/W/109 ToJapan
G/SG/W/111 ToCanada
G/SG/W/110 TotheUnited States
B. Notifications without legislative text
12. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofArgentina canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/41 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/54 Submitted byCanadaG/SG/M/4
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Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/139 ToAustralia andCanada
13. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofChile canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/40 Submitted byAustralia
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/72 ToAustralia
14. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofIndonesia canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/55 Submitted byCanada
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/Q1/IDN/1.
15. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofPerucanbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/42 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/56 Submitted byCanada
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/73 ToAustralia
G/SG/W/74 ToCanada
16. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofSingapore canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/57 Submitted byCanada
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/138 ToCanada
17. Thequestions concerning thenotification ofVenezuela canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/43 Submitted byAustralia
G/SG/W/58 Submitted byCanada
Answers tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/62 ToAustralia
G/SG/W/143 ToCanada
18. Although thelegislative notifications ofMauritius andSriLanka alsowereontheagenda for
review,theseMembershadnorepresentativespresentatthemeeting.Therefore,theChairmansuggested
thatthereview oftheirnotifications beputontheagenda forthefollowing special meeting.G/SG/M/4
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19. TheCommittee sodecided.
20. TheChairman observed thattheCommittee hadmade good progress initstaskofreviewing
legislative notifications atthemeeting. Heparticularly thanked thedelegations oftheMembers reviewed
forthehardwork theyhadputintopreparing forthemeeting andtheobvious seriousness withwhich
theyhadundertaken thetask. Theresult hadbeen, inhisview, extremely positive.
C. Scheduleofnotificationstobereviewedatthirdspecialmeeting,tobeheldMondayandTuesday
11and12December 1995
21. TheChairman briefly reviewed thestatus ofnotifications oflegislation. Heobserved that,
although on28July1995 he,asChairman, hadsentaletter toallMembers whohadnotyetnotified
astothestatus oftheirsafeguards legislation, 45Members stillhadnotsubmitted anotification to
theCommittee. Those Members were: Antigua andBarbuda, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize,
Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cyprus, Côted'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica,
Slovenia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liechtenstein,
Malaysia, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria,
Central African Republic, Republic ofGuinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent &Grenadines, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, andUganda. Heobserved that,asthe
firstanniversary ofthecoming intoforce oftheWTO Agreement approached, hefound thissituation
distressing, particularly since, forthose Members whohavenolegislation, notification wasasimple
matter.
22. TheChairman reminded Members thatthethirdspecial meeting forreview oflegislation would
beheldon11-12 December 1995, withthepossibility ofcontinuing one13December ifnecessary.
Theproposed listofnotifications forreview atthatmeeting already hadbeendecided. Specifically,
thelegislations notified byJapan, Cuba, Hungary, Israel andMexico, inthatorder, would bereviewed,
aswould thenon-text legislative notifications ofAustralia, Brazil, ElSalvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey andUruguay.
23. TheChairman proposed that,inviewofadditional notifications received since thatlistwas
decided, thenon-textual notifications ofBolivia, thePhilippines, India, Iceland, Morocco, Pakistan,
Paraguay, theDominican Republic, theSlovak Republic, Trinidad andTobago, Zambia andZimbabwe
beadded tothelist,and,aspreviously decided atthismeeting, thenon-text notifications ofMauritius
andSriLanka. Inaddition, theChairman proposed thatthelegislative textsofMacau andNorway
beadded tothelistaswell. Henoted thatSouth Africa alsohadsubmitted alegislative text. Asthat
notification hadbeenreceived onlythatweek, there wasnottimetotranslate anddistribute itsuch
thatMembers could prepare questions onitforthefollowing meeting. Thus, itwould havetobe
reviewed atalatermeeting.
24. TheCommittee sodecided.
25. TheChairman reminded Members thatwritten questions forthethirdspecial meeting were
tobesubmitted totheMembers whose legislation theyconcerned andtotheSecretariat nolaterthan
20November 1995.
26. TheChairman further reminded Members thatthedeadline forsubmission totheMember
concerned andtotheSecretariat, inwritten form, thequestions asked orally atthismeeting was23
November 1995, andthatthedeadline forsubmission ofallwritten responses towritten questions was
15January 1996.
27. Themeeting wasadjourned.