. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/N/6/VEN/3
27 March 2000
(00-1234)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(A) OF THE AGREEMENT
ON SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
AND THE REASONS FOR IT
VENEZUELA
The following communication, dated 17 March 2000, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Venezuela.
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Pursuant to Article 12.1(A) of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, and taking into account
the model proposed by the Committee on Safeguards (G/SG/N/6, dated 7 February 1995), the
Committee is hereby informed that the competent Venezuelan authority has initiated the following
safeguards investigation:
1. Date of initiation of the investigation:  8 March 20001, by means of Decision
No. ST-S-AP003/00 by the Technical Secretariat of the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies
Commission.
2. Product subject to the investigation:  new pneumatic tyres, of rubber, of a kind used
on motor cars (including station wagons and racing cars), identified under Tariff
Code 4011.10.00 of the Harmonized System.
3. Reasons for initiation of the investigation:
(i) The investigation was initiated at the request of the National Association of
Rubber Manufacturers, which represents the entire domestic industryproducing like or directly competitive goods in Venezuela.
(ii) The Technical Secretariat of the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission
(CASS) initiated the investigation on the basis of evidence submitted by the
applicants in support of their application.  In this connection, the applicantssubmitted figures relating to the increased volume of imports of the above
type of pneumatic tyres over the three years preceding the application,
supported by official statistical data.  They also submitted evidence of the
injury caused to the domestic industry by the imports complained of and to
that end provided information on the deterioration of their main economicvariables, such as production trends and patterns, profits, return on
investment, utilization of installed capacity, sales, market share, cash flow,
                                                     
1 The text of the Decision to open the investigation No. ST-S-AP003/00, dated 8 March 2000, will be
published shortly in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Venezuela.G/SG/N/6/VEN/3
Page 2
prices and level of employment, indicating in each instance the causal link
between that deterioration and the increased imports.
(iii) With regard to the existence of critical circumstances, the applicants
submitted evidence to show that there was a substantial increase in theimports concerned during the last ten months for which statistics are
available.
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