RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/BOP/R/10
4December 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3932)
Committee onBalance-of-Payments Restrictions
REPORT (1995) OFTHE COMMITTEE ONBALANCE-OF PAYMENTS RESTRICTIONS
1. Thisreport hasbeenprepared inpursuance oftheProcedures foranAnnual Overview ofWTO
ActivitiesandforReportingundertheWTO(WT/L/105),andsetsouttheactionstakenbytheCommittee
since 1January 1995.
2. TheCommittee hasheldconsultations withnineMembers during 1995. Twoother Members
heldconsultations withtheGATT 1947 Committee prior totheirWTO Membership.
3. In1995,twomembersnewlyinvokedbalance-of-paymentsprovisions.TheCommitteeconsulted
withHungary inJuneandBrazil inOctober 1995. Itrequested Hungary topresent forthenext
consultation tobeheldinsummer 1996, aconcrete timetable forthereduction andelimination ofthe
import surcharge introduced inMarch 1995.1Following theconsultation withBrazil, theprovisions
foranimport quota onmotor vehicles introduced inJunewerewithdrawn witheffect from27October.2
4. Ontheongoing useofimport measures forbalance ofpayments reasons, theCommittee held
fivefullconsultations withSouth Africa, Slovakia, Poland, SriLanka andIndia. Pursuant toits
consultationwiththeCommitteeinMay1995,SouthAfricaremoveditsimportsurchargeanddisinvoked
therelevant provisions inNovember 1995.3Inaconsultation heldinJune, theWTO Committee
requested Slovakia toeliminate theimport surcharge introduced in1994bytheendof1995, ifpossible,
butinanycasebefore 30June1996.4TheGATT 1947Committee, consulting alsoinJune, requested
Poland toeliminate thesurcharge established in1992, bytheendof1995, ifpossible, andinanycase
toaccelerate thephase-out totakeplace bythetimedueforthenextconsultation inJune1996.5At
aconsultation heldinNovember 1995 theCommittee recommended SriLanka nothaverecourse to
Article XVIII:B forrestrictions which could bejustified under other provisions ofGATT 1994.6The
Committee hasscheduled itsfullconsultation withIndia for6-7December 1995.
5. TheCommittee heldsimplified consultations withEgypt inJune, Turkey inSeptember and
thePhilippines inNovember 1995. TheCommittee understood thatEgypt haddisinvoked
1WT/BOP/N/2 andWT/BOP/R/3.
2WT/BOP/N/4, WT/BOP/R/7 andWT/GC/M/8.
3WT/BOP/R/1 andWT/BOP/N/5.
4WT/BOP/N/1 andWT/BOP/R/4.
5BOP/R/228.
6WT/BOP/R/8.
./.WT/BOP/R/10
Page2
Article XVIII:B asfrom 30June1995.7TheCommittee, questioning Turkey 'sapplication ofthe
Mass Housing Fund Levy onanumber ofbound items, determined thatafullconsultation would be
desirable inmid-1996.8TheCommittee recommended thatthePhilippines bedeemed tohavefulfilled
theirobligations under Article XVIII:B for1995. Itagreed that,ifthePhilippines fulfilled thetime-
frames envisaged forthedisinvocation ofArticle XVIII:B, there would benoneedforafurther full
consultation.9Theimport controls maintained byBangladesh forbalance ofpayments purposes were
reviewed byGATT 1947inasimplified consultation heldinMarch 1995andBangladesh wasdeemed
tohavefulfilled itsobligations for1995.10
6. TheCommittee welcomed thedisinvocation ofthebalance-of-payments provisions byIsrael
inSeptember 1995.11
7. Areport onotherbusiness conducted bytheCommittee isalsocontained indocument BOP/R/5.
8. Consultations withNigeria, originally scheduled forNovember 1995, willbeheldin1996.
Other Members duetoconsult in1996areHungary, Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Tunisia andTurkey.
Thenextsimplified consultation withBangladesh willbeheldin1997.
9. Rules ofprocedure fortheCommittee aresubmitted totheGeneral Council foradoption in
document WT/BOP/10.
7WT/BOP/R/2.
8WT/BOP/R/6.
9WT/BOP/R/9.
10BOP/R/223.
11WT/BOP/N/3 andWT/BOP/R/5