RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/W/37
18October 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3148)
Original: French Committee onSafeguards
REPLIES FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES CONCERNING QUESTIONS
POSED BYKOREA1CONCERNING THE NOTIFICATION OFTHE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES LAWS AND REGULATIONS2
Thefollowing communication, dated 3October 1995, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Delegation oftheEuropean Communities.
__________________
1. Regulation (EC) No.3285/94, Title IV,Articles 11-15, Surveillance
Surveillance measures under Articles 11-15 ofTitleIVofRegulation (EC)No.3285/94 may
beoftwotypes: retrospective surveillance orprior surveillance:
- retrospective surveillance means thatthenational authorities communicate, earlier than
istheusual practice, thestatistics onimports effected;
- priorsurveillance isconducted byasystem ofautomatic licences issued inconformity
withtheprovisions oftheLicensing Code. Import documents arenonetheless issued
within aperiod offiveworking days, freeofcharge andforanyquantity, toany
Community importer requesting them.
Implementation ofthese surveillance measures innowayaffects theliberalization regime that
theCommunity grants tothird countries towhich Regulation (EC) No.3285/94 applies, including
WTO countries.
These surveillance measures aretheCommission 'stoolforlearning promptly about thetrend
inrecent orforeseeable imports.
Inother words, thesurveillance measures inArticles 11-15 ofTitle IVofRegulation
(EC) No.3285/94 donothavetheeffect ofrestraining imports andtheyarenotaimed atorderly
marketing oftheproducts concerned.
Accordingly,thesemeasuresdonotfallwithinthecategoryofmeasuresprohibitedbyArticle11
oftheAgreement onSafeguards.
1G/SG/W/9.
2G/SG/N/1/EEC/1.
./.G/SG/W/37
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2. Article 8.3 Provisional safeguard measures
Article 8.3ofRegulation (EC)No.3285/94 isfullyconsistent withtheprovisions ofArticle 6
oftheAgreement onSafeguards.
Theformulation inArticle 8.3,namely "provisional safeguard measures should taketheform
ofanincrease intheexisting levelofcustoms duty" isidentical [intheFrench version] totheformulation
contained inArticle 6oftheAgreement onSafeguards.
IntheCommunity 'sview, theAgreement onSafeguards, byusing theword "should" and
nottheword "must", indicates apriority tobegiven totariff measures butdoesnotentail afirm
obligation toadopt suchmeasures.