RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/W/9
12July1995
ORGANIZATION(95-1939)
Original: English Committee onSafeguards
QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE NOTIFICATIONS PROVIDED BY
THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY OFLAWS AND REGULATIONS
UNDER ARTICLE 12.6OFTHE AGREEMENT
Thefollowingcommunication,dated4July1995,hasbeenreceivedfromthePermanentMission
ofKorea.
_______________
Pursuant tothedecision oftheCommittee onSafeguards, andinresponse toWTO/AIR/78,
paragraph 7,dated 10May1995, Ihavethehonour tosubmit totheSecretariat some written questions
andobservations addressed totheEuropean Community, concerning theirsafeguard legislation.
./.G/SG/W/9
Page2
QUESTIONNAIRE ONTHE SAFEGUARDS LAWS
OFEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
Wewould liketorequest theEuropean Community toclarify thefollowing points withrespect
tosurveillance andprovisional safeguard measures, ascontained initsNotification ofLaws, Regulations
andAdministrative Procedures Relating toSafeguard Measures (G/SG/N/EEC/1).
1. Surveillance (Title IV,Articles 11through 15)
Itappears thatEuropean Community Council Regulation No.3285/94 maintains theimport
surveillance measures which werepreviously embodied inRegulation No.518/94. These measures
imply that"products under Community Surveillance maybeputintofreecirculation onlyonthe
production ofanimport document" (Article 12.1).
Itisobserved thatthisrestriction isimposed prior toprocedures stipulated intheSafeguards
Agreement, suchastheinvestigation procedures under Article 3,thedetermination ofqualification
under Article 4,andthepreliminary determination under Article 6.Asaresult, theapplication of
sucharestriction contravenes theprovisions oftheAgreement. Consequently, thisrestriction isdeemed
prohibited byArticle 11oftheAgreement.
2. Provisional safeguard measures (Article 8.3)
Theregulation oftheEuropean Communities stipulates that"Provisional safeguard measures
should taketheform ofanincrease intheexisting level ofcustoms duty(whether thelatter iszero
orhigher) ifsuchaction islikely toprevent orrepair theserious injury." Thisisincontrast with
Article6oftheSGAgreementwhichstatesthat"Suchmeasuresshouldtaketheformoftariffincreases".
TheAgreement thusdoesnotplace anyconditionality ontheformofprovisional safeguard measures.