RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TRIMS/M/7
6November 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4856)
Committee onTrade-Related Investment Measures
MINUTES OFTHE MEETING HELD ON15SEPTEMBER 1997
Chairman: Mr.Javier Paulinich (Peru)
1. TheCommittee onTrade-Related Investment Measures held itsseventh meeting on
15September 1997.
2. TheCommittee adopted thefollowing agenda:
A. NotificationsunderArticle5.1oftheAgreementonTrade-RelatedInvestmentMeasures
B. NotificationsunderArticle6.2oftheAgreementonTrade-RelatedInvestmentMeasures
C. Observer status forinternational intergovernmental organizations
D. Annual report (1997) totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
A. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 5.1OFTHEAGREEMENT ONTRADE-RELATED
INVESTMENT MEASURES
3. TheChairman referred toquestions raised attheprevious meeting withregard tonotifications
received under Article 5.1oftheAgreement, asrecorded inparagraphs 3-32oftheminutes ofthat
meeting (G/TRIMS/M/6), andrecalled thattheprevious Chairman hadsuggested theendofJuneas
anindicative dateforthesubmission ofwritten responses which some delegations hadundertaken to
provide tothose questions andhadalsoproposed thatquestions onnotifications besubmitted inwriting
assoonaspossible. Unfortunately, theCommittee hadnotreceived suchwritten questions andanswers.
Hedrew theCommittee 'sattention toanadditional notification received from Argentina
(G/TRIMS/N/1/ARG/Add.1) andnewnotifications from Mali(G/TRIMS/N/1/MLI/1) andUganda
(G/TRIMS/N/1/UGA/1).
4. Therepresentative oftheUnited States reiterated several questions posed byhisdelegation
atthepreviousmeetingwithrespecttomeasuresintroducedbyBrazilconcerningautomotiveinvestments
incertain regions ofBrazil andmeasures notified byColombia indocument G/TRIMS/N/1/COL/2
regarding certain agricultural products. Regarding theaddendum submitted byArgentina toits
notification under Article 5.1,hesaidthattheDecree covered bythisaddendum modified themeasures
described inArgentina 'soriginal notification inamanner which wasinconsistent withArticle 5.4.
First, theDecree increased therequired level oflocal content from 60toatleast67.5%. Second,
while theoriginal measure provided forimport content indices which could beaveraged overvarious
vehicle categories, under thenewDecree theimport content indices applied tospecific models. Finally,
thenewDecree expanded thecoverage ofthelocal content requirements toinclude autoparts
manufacturers while theoriginal measure applied onlytoassemblers ofvehicles. With respect tothe
notification recently submitted byUganda, heobserved thatthetimely filing ofnotifications within
90daysoftheentry intoforce oftheWTO wasasubstantive legalrequirement inorder fordevelopingG/TRIMS/M/7
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andleastdeveloped countries toreceive thebenefit ofthetransition periods mentioned inArticle 5.2
oftheAgreement. Hisdelegation therefore disagreed withthestatement made inthisnotification that
Uganda would change itslocalcontent measures "within theperiod provided forintheAgreement".
Since Uganda hadfailed tomake atimely notification, ithadnolegalcover forthese measures.
5. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthathisdelegation hadprepared written questions
ontheabove-mentioned issues forthedelegations ofBrazil, Colombia, Argentina andUganda and
requested thatthese delegations submit written answers tothose questions totheCommittee.1Healso
reminded theCommittee ofquestions raised byhisdelegation attheprevious meeting inrespect of
anotification submitted byIndonesia (G/TRIMS/M/6, paragraph 4).
6. TherepresentativeofAustraliastatedthatherdelegationremainedinterestedinreceivinganswers
from Colombia toquestions raised attheprevious meeting about themethod usedfordetermining
domestic absorption ratios andabout Colombia 'sintentions withregard tothephase-out ofthemeasures
notified inG/TRIMS/N/1/COL/2. Herdelegation shared theview expressed bytherepresentative
oftheUnited States onthequestion oftiming ofnotifications under Article 5.1.
7. Therepresentative ofBrazil stated thattheissues raised bytherepresentative oftheUnited
States hadbeenthesubject ofbilateral consultations onseveral occasions. Hisdelegation wished to
givefurther consideration tothequestion ofwhether thisCommittee wastheproper forum fora
discussion ofthese issues, assome ofthemeasures inquestion hadbeennotified intheframework
oftheAgreement onSubsidies andCountervailing Measures.
8. Therepresentative ofArgentina expressed concerns about thefactthat,notwithstanding that
theCommittee hadagreed onthedesirability ofthesubmission ofquestions inadvance ofmeetings,
theUnited States hadpresented itsquestions onlyatthebeginning ofthismeeting. Henoted that,
since theaddendum toArgentina 'soriginal notification hadbeensubmitted inMarch 1997, there had
beenample timeforotherdelegations tocirculate questions onthisaddendum inadvance ofthismeeting.
HedeniedthatthemeasurenotifiedintheaddendumtoArgentina'snotificationunderArticle5.1entailed
anyincreased inconsistency withtherequirements ofArticle 2oftheAgreement. Regarding thefirst
pointmade bytherepresentative oftheUnited States, heexplained thattheapparent reduction innominal
maximum imported content thatseemed tofollow fromtheprovisions ofDecree No.33/96 reflected
achange inthemethod ofmeasurement ofimported content from customs values tof.o.b. values.
Thismeant thattherehadnotbeenareduction inthemaximum content allowed under Decree No.33/96
butrather anadjustment ofvalues inorder tomake themequivalent, inthecontext ofthenewdefinitions
onmaximum imported content. With respect totheother twopoints raised bythedelegation ofthe
United States, hewould consult hisauthorities.
9. Therepresentative ofColombia saidthatshewould convey toherauthorities thequestions
raised inwriting bytheUnited States inrespect ofColombia 'snotification andthatherdelegation would
submit written answers assoonaspossible.
10. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Community stated thathisdelegation wasinterested in
receiving responses fromArgentina andColombia andthathisdelegation shared theviewoftheUnited
states withrespect totheissue oftiming ofnotifications under Article 5.1.
11. Therepresentative ofJapan stated thatquestions andanswers relating tomatters discussed in
theCommittee should bemade available toallMembers. Inthiscontext, heexpressed hisdelegation 's
appreciation forArgentina 'srecent notification ofitsTRIM onautomobiles. Heseconded thecomments
1Thequestions raised bytheUnited States have been circulated indocument G/TRIMS/W/10.G/TRIMS/M/7
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bytheUnited States ontheissue oftiming ofnotifications. With regard torecent measures taken by
Indonesia inrespect ofautomobiles, hisdelegation considered thatthese measures wereTRIMs that
were inconsistent withtheAgreement, notwithstanding thewithdrawal byIndonesia ofapartofits
notification. Referring totherecent establishment ofapanel inrespect ofthismatter, hesaidthat
hisdelegation would continue toseekchanges tothese measures.
12. Therepresentative ofArgentina stated thathisdelegation attached great importance to
transparency, asevidenced bythesubmission ofitsadditional notification. However, inconsidering
whether itwasappropriate tocirculate intheCommittee answers provided inbilateral discussions with
theUnited States onArgentina 'smeasures withrespect toautomobiles, itwasalsonecessary totake
account oftheinterests oftheindividual enterprises involved.
13. Therepresentative oftheUnited States clarified thathisdelegation would likeArgentina to
provide itsanswers totheCommittee andnotjustbilaterally totheUnited States.
14. TheCommittee tooknoteofthestatements made andagreed torevert tonotifications under
Article 5.1atitsnextmeeting. TheCommittee alsoagreed thatthetextofquestions putbydelegations
onthese notifications would bemade available by19September andthatdelegations towhich these
questions were addressed would make every effort torespond tothem bymid-November.
B. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 6.2OFTHEAGREEMENT ONTRADE-RELATED
INVESTMENT MEASURES
15. TheChairman noted that,while inSeptember 1996theCommittee haddecided onprocedures
forthesubmission ofnotifications under Article 6.2by1February 1997, themajority ofMembers
hadyettomake suchnotifications. Notifications received sofarunder thisprovision hadbeencirculated
indocument G/TRIMS/N/2/Rev.1. More recently, notifications hadalsobeenreceived from India,
Israel, thePhilippines andtheUnited States. Heencouraged allMembers tosubmit theirnotifications
assoonaspossible.
16. Therepresentative ofArgentina saidthathisdelegation would submit anotification shortly.
17. Therepresentative oftheUnited States saidthat, inview ofthecontent ofsome ofthe
notifications received under Article 6.2,itwasimportant toclarify thatthisprovision wasnotlimited
inscope tothose TRIMs thatwere inconsistent withtheAgreement butapplied toallTRIMs.
18. Therepresentative oftheEuropean Community saidthathisdelegation would beinaposition
tomake anotification before thenextmeeting.
19. TheCommittee tooknoteofthecomments made andagreed torevert atitsnextmeeting to
notifications received under Article 6.2oftheAgreement.
C. OBSERVERSTATUSFORINTERNATIONALINTERGOVERNMENTALORGANIZATIONS
20. Following adiscussion ataninformal session, theCommittee agreed torevert atitsnextmeeting
torequests forobserver status bytheInter-American Development Bank, theLatin American Economic
System andtheIslamic Development Bank.G/TRIMS/M/7
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D. ANNUAL REPORT TOTHE COUNCIL FOR TRADE INGOODS
21. TheCommittee adopted itsannual report (1997) totheCouncil forTrade inGoods
(document G/L/193).
Dateofthenextmeeting
22. TheCommittee agreed toholditsnextmeeting on16March 1998.