RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/W/124
23February 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0690)
Original: Spanish Committee onSafeguards
REPLIES TOQUESTIONS POSED BYJAPAN1CONCERNING
THE NOTIFICATION OFLAWS AND REGULATIONS OF
MEXICO2UNDER ARTICLE 12.6OFTHE AGREEMENT
Thefollowing communication, dated 9February 1996, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Mission ofMexico.
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1. Arethere anyprovisions inthenotified legislation which setoutconditions referred to
inArticle 7oftheAgreement onSafeguards suchasmid-term review, theprogressive liberalization
ofmeasures, non-application period?
Theprovisions which apply arecontained inArticles 133and134oftheRegulations under
theForeign Trade Act.Inrelation toreviews, Article 133provides that"Once theappropriate safeguard
measurehasbeenimposed,theMinistryshallregularlyreviewtheprogressoftheadjustmentprogramme
inorder tomake surethatitisbeing dulyimplemented and,when necessary, shallconsider anychange
ofcircumstances thatmaybepreventing itsimplementation, authorizing theappropriate changes and
modifications."
Atthesametime,forthepurposes ofdetermining theduration ofmeasures, Article 134provides
thattheMinistry willevaluate theimplementation oftheadjustment programme andwill,furthermore,
comply withtheprovisions on"theduration ofthesafeguard measures" ascontained ininternational
treaties andconventions towhich Mexico isaparty. Thismeans that,forallGATT member States,
Articles 7and9.2oftheAgreement onSafeguards oftheGATT 1994 willapply withregard tothe
"duration andreview ofsafeguard measures".
Regardless oftheforegoing, theGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade (GATT) of1994
islawinMexico.
2. Areimports from themember States ofNAFTA subject tosafeguard measures inthesame
manner asimports from non-member States?
TheNorth American FreeTrade Agreement setsoutanumber ofspecific provisions which
apply solely totheAgreement 'ssignatory countries andonlyunder certain conditions. These provisions
allow forimports ofgoods fromtheother Parties tobeexcluded fromthemeasure iftheymeetcertain
requirements. Nonetheless, evenwhere suchconditions aremet,ifthecountry imposing ameasure
determines thatanexclusion ofthissortreduces theeffectiveness ofthemeasure, thatcountry has
therighttoapply thesame treatment asisgiven totherestoftheworld.
1G/SG/W/80.
2G/SG/N/1/MEX/1.