. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SG/Q2/EGY/1
28 September 1998
(98-3751)
Committee on Safeguards Original:  English
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(A) OF THE AGREEMENT ON
SAFEGUARDS ON INITIATION OF AN INVESTIGATION
AND THE REASONS FOR IT
AND
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.4 OF THE AGREEMENT ON
SAFEGUARDS BEFORE TAKING A PROVISIONAL SAFEGUARDS
MEASURE REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 6
Questions posed by the UNITED STATES
to EGYPT1
The following communication, dated 25 September 1998, has been received from the
Permanent Mission of the United States.
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According to the information provided in G/SG/N/7/EGY/1, 11 August 1998, the Arab
Republic of Egypt has decided to impose a provisional safeguard measure on the importation of safety
matches in boxes, an item under heading 36.05.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule for Egypt.
We have not been able to identify any notification of safeguard legislation by the Arab
Republic of Egypt, other than G/SG/N/1/EGY/1, 27 March 1995, in which Egypt notified the
Committee on Safeguards that it had no laws or regulations relevant to the WTO Agreement on
Safeguards.  However, the notification further noted that relevant national legislation was beingprepared and would be notified as soon as it is enacted.
1. Has the Government of Egypt notified the Committee of its safeguards legislation and
regulations, as required by Article 12.6 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards?  If so, please
provide the official citation and date of this notification.
2. If no such notification has yet been made, please advise when the Committee on Safeguards
can expect to receive it, bearing in mind that Article 12.6 of the Agreement on Safeguards
provides that a notification of this kind shall be promptly made available to the Committee.
3. When did Egypt enact its safeguard legislation and regulations?  Please provide an official
legal citation for these laws and regulations and a translated copy of them to the Committee
for review.
Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards provides that “in critical circumstances
where delay would cause damage which it would be difficult to repair, a Member may take a
                                                     
1 G/SG/N/6/EGY/1 and
  G/SG/N/7/EGY/1.G/SG/Q2/EGY/1
Page 2
provisional safeguard measure pursuant to a preliminary determination that there is clear evidence that
increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury.”
4. Please describe the process that led to the preliminary determination that there is clear
evidence that increased imports have caused serious injury to the Egyptian safety matchindustry.
5. Was a petition filed on behalf of the safety match industry or did the Egyptian Government
self-initiate this process?  If the process was initiated by a petition, please provide to the
Secretariat a translated copy for review by interested exporting countries.
6. Was the preliminary determination made by an Egyptian authority deemed competent for
conducting safeguards investigations?  If so, please identify that competent authority.  What
procedures did the authority follow in making its preliminary determination?  What evidence
of serious injury and import causation did the authority consider?
7. According to the information provided in G/ SG/N/7/EGY/1, there has been a decline in profit
of the largest and dominant local producer of safety matches.  Did Egypt make an assessment
based on the condition of the industry as a whole producing the like or directly competitive
product, and if so, how?
8. We note, in G/SG/N/7/EGY/1, that only 187,712 cartons of imported safety matches were
imported into Egypt in 1997.  What was the total apparent consumption of safety matches in
Egypt in 1997?
Article 6 of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards provides that the provisional tariff increases
are to be promptly refunded if the subsequent investigation referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 4 ofthe Safeguards Agreement does not determine that increased imports have caused or threatened to
cause serious injury to a domestic industry.
9. Did the Government of Egypt establish and make public, in consonance with Article X of
GATT 1994, procedures for the investigation prior to its initiation, as required by Article 3 of
the WTO Agreement on Safeguards?  On what date did the Government of Egypt publish its
safeguards investigation procedures?  Were the procedures published in the Official Gazette?Please provide the official citation for these procedures.
10. Does Egypt intend to initiate consultations immediately, as required by Article 12.4 of the
Agreement on Safeguards?  If so, when and with which Members?  Which countries are the
principal suppliers of imported safety matches to Egypt?
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