RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/W/123
7February 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0447)
Original: English Committee onSafeguards
GENERAL STATEMENT FROM ROMANIA SUPPLEMENTING
RESPONSES TOQUESTIONS FROM AUSTRALIA1,CANADA2,
KOREA3,THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES4,AND THE UNITED STATES5
CONCERNING THE NOTIFICATION OFLAWS AND REGULATIONS OF
ROMANIA6UNDER ARTICLE 12.6OFTHE AGREEMENT
Thefollowing communication, dated 19January 1996, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Mission ofRomania.
_______________
Iwould liketostartbyexpressing ourappreciation fortheprocess ofexamination oflegislation
onsafeguards aswellasfortheopportunity given tomycountry topresent itscurrent legislation.
Weareconfident thatsuchaprocess ismeant toeasethewaytotrade andtoallow WTO
Members tofurther improve theirlegislation onspecific andsensitive fields.
Romania hasnotified totheWTO itslegislation onsafeguards. Thislegislation, dated 1992,
wasinfactmeant toputinforce theresults oftheTokyo Round andrepresents ourfirstlegislation
inthisfield.
Inouropinion, thislegislation isnotincontradiction withtheAgreement onSafeguards under
WTO but,ofcourse, doesnotexpressly cover indetail alltheprovisions oftheAgreement on
Safeguards.
Even so,inthenotified legislation, under Article 15oftheCommon Order No.128/1992,
thereisaprovision stating thatwhenever thereisnoprovision forspecific aspects regarding safeguards,
GATT stipulations aretobeapplied. These GATT stipulations wereGATT 1947untiltheendof1994
asatthatmoment ourParliament adopted theresults oftheUruguay Round multilateral negotiations,
thusgiving Romania thepossibility tobecome aWTO Member, witheffect from 1January 1995.
AccordingtoourConstitution,anyinternationalagreementadoptedbyParliamentisincorporated
inthenational legislation. Thus, theAgreement onSafeguards became forusnational legislation to
beobserved.
Under these circumstances andinorder tofacilitate theCommission 'sactions onsafeguards,
theMinistry ofCommerce considered necessary todraw upanewlegislation onanti-dumping,
countervailing duties andsafeguards. Thisnewlegislation iscovers many more aspects onsafeguards
1G/SG/W/118,2G/SG/W/119,3G/SG/W/120,4G/SG/W/121,5G/SG/W/122,6G/SG/N/1/ROM/1.
./.G/SG/W/123
Page2
thanthenotified legislation andreflects thepreoccupation oftheMinistry ofCommerce tohavean
indepth approximation oftheAgreement onSafeguards.
Thisinitiative alsoaimsatimproving information onthedomestic industry including small
andmedium-size enterprises.
Thedraftlegislation hasbeenpresented forexamination totheGovernment andafinaldecision
isexpectedsoon.Accordingtoourconstitutionalprovisions,thenewlawwillbesubmittedtoParliament
foradoption.
Ourintention istohaveallthiswork finalized assoonaspossible.
Assoonasthenewlegislation comes intoforce weshall, ofcourse, notify ittotheWTO.
Wewanttounderline averyimportant fact,namely thatuntilnow, Romania hasnottaken
anysafeguard measures andhasnotinitiated anyinvestigations ofthiskind.