. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/Q1/MEX/4 
22 April 2004  
 
(04-1811) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   Spanish 
   
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 12.6 
OF THE AGREEMENT 
 
Replies to the Questions Posed by Argentina
1Regarding the  
Notification of Mexico2 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 16 April 2004,  is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Mexico.  
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1. Article 49:  Could Mexico please indicate ho w and when, in the course of an ex officio 
investigation, it analyses the sectoral adjustme nt plan for the purposes of the evaluation in 
connection with the initiation of the invest igation?  What evidence does it rely on? 
 
Reply
 
  To date, Mexico has not initiated any safeguard i nvestigations ex officio, so that there is no 
concrete background information on the evidence that  would be taken into account in evaluating the 
readjustment plan for a sector deemed to be seri ously affected by a significant increase in imports. 
 
 However, we can say that the factors that influence and determine the sector's 
competitiveness, together with the measures ta ken and the estimated time required for their 
implementation, may have a bearing on the analysis of  the adjustment plan for a domestic industry.  It 
should be noted that this evidence will not necessarily be required for the initiation of an investigation 
but is required for the application a nd extension of a safeguard measure. 
 
2. Article 50:  What is meant by "natural or legal persons producing"? 
Reply
 
  The term "natural persons" means individuals;  "legal persons" means enterprises, companies 
or corporations that manufacture a product. 
 
3. Article 89B:  Bearing in mind the contents of this Article and following up on the 
question posed by the European Communities in document G/SG/Q1/MEX/1, it would be 
interesting to know:  (i) if there have been cases  of circumvention of safeguard measures in 
practice;  (ii) if the instances of circumvention mentioned in Article 89B apply in exactly the 
same way to countervailing duties as to safeguard measures. 
                                                     
 
1 G/SG/Q1/MEX/3. 
2 G/SG/N/1/MEX/1/Suppl.1. G/SG/Q1/MEX/4 
Page 2  
 
  Reply
 
  As mentioned earlier, Mexico has very little experience in the application of safeguard 
measures, and it has no experience at all of safeguard circumvention procedures. 
  However, certain similarities might be deemed to exist, mutatis mutandis, between the procedures relating to circumvention of anti-dumpi ng or countervailing duties and those relating to 
safeguards.  This will no doubt depend on the pa rticular circumstances of the case concerned. 
 
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