WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/BOP/N/50
28 April 2000
(00-1705)
Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions Original:  English
NOTIFICATION UNDER PARAGRAPH 9 OF THE UNDERSTANDING ON THE
BALANCE-OF-PAYMENTS PROVISIONS OF THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON
TARIFFS AND TRADE 1994
Communication from Romania
The following communication, dated 25 April 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Romania.
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With reference to Paragraph 9 of the Understanding on the Balance-of-Payments provisions
of GATT 1994 and Paragraph 4 of Article XII of GATT 1994, I have the honour to inform you of the
following.
The Government of Romania introduced th rough Emergency Ordinance No. 22/1998 an
import surcharge of 6 per cent as from 10 October 1998.  Notification of this is contained in document
WT/BOP/N/41.
The Basic Document for the consultations with Romania in the Committee on Balance-of-
Payments Restrictions, circulated as document WT/BOP/G/7, contains detailed information on the
reasons for the introduction of, as well as a timetable for phasing out, the import surcharge.
In accordance with its commitment expressed in the timetable for phasing out the import
surcharge, the Government of Romania has reduced the rate of import surcharge from 6 per cent to
4 per cent as from 1 January 1999, and from 4 per cent to 2 per cent as from 1 January 2000.Notifications have been circulated in  documents WT/BOP/N /42 and WT/BOP/N/48.
Consultations in the Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions have been held on
1 and 2 February 1999. The Report of these consultations has been circulated in document
WT/BOP/R/45.
As presented in the Report, should the conditions which determined the imposition of the
surcharge change in a favourable way, an earlier elimination can be envisaged.
We wish to inform the Committee that a complex analysis of the situation of the balance-of-
payments is underway at present, accompanying th e process of adoption of the State Budget for 2000.
As Romania has fully observed the calendar of reducing the import surcharge and is
committed to eliminating it by the end of this year, at the latest, in our view there is no need to have
BOP consultations with Romania as it is foreseen under paragraph 4 of Article XII of the GATT
1994.
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