./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/71/Suppl.3
6 May 2004
(04-2022)
Committee on Safeguards Original: English
REQUEST FOR CONSULTATIONS CONCERNING THE IMPOSITION
OF DEFINITIVE SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON IMPORTS OF
CERTAIN STEEL PRODUCTS, CALCIUM CARBIDE,
GAS WATER HEATERS AND MATCHES
Request for Consultations under Article 12.3
of the Agreement on Safeguards
MEXICO
Supplement
The following communication, dated 4 May 2004, is being circulated at the request of the
Delegation of Mexico.
_______________
RE: Result of Consultations
Pursuant to article 12.5 of the Safeguards Agreement, the Government of Mexico hereby
notifies the results of the consultations held with Poland under article 12.3 of this agreement. On
19 April 2004, the representatives of these two countries met in Geneva with the purpose of
examining the definitive safeguard measures imposed by Poland on certain steel products, calcium
carbide, matches and gas water heaters. The request for consultations was circulated as document
G/SG/71.
During these consultations, Mexico expressed its concern on the active participation of the
Polish safeguards authority during the last year and considered that Poland had become one of the
most active Members of this trade remedy.
It further questioned several deficiencies that were detected in their notifications, and
expressed concern on the difficulty to access the documents pertaining to the investigations.
Notwithstanding the specific inquiries of Mexico regarding Poland’s method to evaluate the injury
factors and the increase of imports, Poland did not provide any satisfactory explanation thereon. For
instance, Poland was reluctant to share any data pertaining to profits and losses in the investigations
regarding gas water heaters and calcium carbide, arguing that it was confidential information. Mexico
highlighted the quality of the investigation leading to the safeguard measure on steel products vis-à-
visthe standard applied for the other three measures.
Mexico also consulted on Poland’s failure to exclude Mexico from the application of the
abovementioned measures as stated in article 9.1 of the Agreement on Safeguards. In this respect,
Mexico posed questions concerning Poland’s unilateral decision to ignore the status of Mexico as a
developing country Member. Once again, Poland did not provide a reasonable justification as to whyG/SG/71/Suppl.3
Page 2
it disregarded this fact and proceeded to unilaterally apply its own GSP list. Mexico believes that this
should be of extreme concern to all developing country Members.
On a positive note, the Mexican authorities understand that, due to Poland’s accession to the
EU, these measures would cease to exist as of April 30 and that Poland would no longer impose any
safeguard measure.
Despite our efforts to reach an understanding during the consultations, Mexico notifies that
both governments failed to achieve an agreement on the consulted issues, and failed to achieve an
agreement on the content of a joint notification.
__________