WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.98.172
6April 1998
ORGANIZATION
(98-1365)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: UNITED STATES
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department oftheTreasury
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification shallbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Imports andOther
Trademarked Goods
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Gray Market Imports
andother Trademarked Goods (7pages, English)
6. Description ofcontent: Thisdocument proposes toamend theCustoms Regulations in
lightofthe1993 decision oftheUSCourt ofAppeals fortheDistrict ofColumbia in
Lever Bros. Co.V.United States. Inlinewiththatdecision, theproposed rulewould,
upon application bytheUStrademark owner, restrict importation ofcertain graymarket
articles thatbeargenuine trademarks identical toorsubstantially indistinguishable from
those appearing onarticles authorized bytheUStrademark owner forimportation or
saleintheUS, andthatthereby create alikelihood ofconsumer confusion, in
circumstances where thegray market articles andthose bearing theauthorized US
trademark arephysically andmaterially different. Theproposed restrictions would apply
notwithstanding thattheUSandforeign trademark owners arethesame, areparent and
subsidiary companies, orareotherwise subject tocommon ownership orcontrol. The
proposed restrictions would notbeapplicable iftheotherwise restricted articles are
labelled inaccordance withproposed standards toeliminate consumer confusion. In
addition, itisproposed toreorganize theCustoms Regulations, with respect to
importations bearing recorded trademarks ortrade names, inorder toclarify Customs
enforcement oftrademark rights astheyrelate toproducts bearing counterfeit, copying,
orsimulating marks andtrade names, andtoclarify Customs enforcement against gray
market goods.
7. Objective andrationale, including thenature ofurgent problems where applicable:
Consumer protection
./.G/TBT/Notif.98.172
Page2
8. Relevant documents: 63FR14662, 26March 1998; 19CFR Part133. Willappear
intheFederal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce: Tobedetermined
10. Final dateforcomments:
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress, e-mail andtelefax number
ofother body: