WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/L/59
10 January 1996
(96-0072)
DECISION ON NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR
QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS
Adopted by the Council for Trade in Goods on 1 December 1995
The Committee, in pursuance of its manda te (paragraph (d) of document WT/L/471), agrees
that:
- Members shall make complete notifications of the quantitative restrictions which they maintain
by 31 January 1996 and at two-yearly intervals thereafter, and shall notify changes to their
quantitative restrictions as and when these changes occur;
- such notifications shall contain:
- a full description of the products and tariff lines (or parts of tariff lines) affected
together with the relevant heading or  sub-heading in the Harmonised System
nomenclature;
- a precise indication of the type of restri ction, using the agreed symbols (BISD 32S/108)
as annexed;
- an indication of the grounds and WTO just ification for the measures maintained,
including the precise provisions which they cite as a justification;
- a statement on the trade effects of the measure;   in order to ensure full transparency, the
notification should include a description of the administrative mechanism associated
with the measure, unless this mechanis m has been notified under the Agreement on
Import Licensing Procedures or  another WTO Agreement.  Also under trade effects, the
notification should include information on the quantity of permissible imports, on the
degree of quota utilization (in the case of exiting quotas) and, where available, on the
level of production or consumption.
- Members which have made, under other WTO provisions, notifications of quantitative
restrictions (including notifications to  the GATT Technical Committee on Quantitative
Restrictions and Other Non-Tariff Measures) which fulfil the requirements for quantitative
restrictions notifications under the 1984 and 1985 decisions and which are up-to-date, shall
notify the fact;  thereupon, the Secretariat shall input such notifications into the quantitative
restrictions data base;
                                                     
    1The statement or understanding contained in document PC/IPL/M/9, paragraphs 6, 7 and 8 applies also to this
Decision .G/L/59
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- it will be open to Members to make reverse notifications where they deem appropriate;
- the Secretariat shall provide, to assist delega tions in the preparation of their notifications, on
request, the extract of the quantitative restrictions  data base pertaining to its own restrictions;
- the notifications shall be stored in a new data base, identical to the existing quantitative
restrictions data base.  The latter shall cease to exist when the GATT 1947 is terminated;
- the Secretariat shall publish periodically a document listing the WTO Members having made a
notification.  The Secretariat shall make available to Members, as and when requested, on paper
or computer tape, detailed extracts of the quantitative restrictions data base.  The notifications
themselves shall be available for consultation in the Secretariat;
- the Committee shall, at two-yearly intervals af ter receipt of the complete notifications, review
the notifications received, on the basis of Se cretariat summaries similar to the summaries
prepared for the GATT Technical Group on Quan titative Restrictions and Other Non-Tariff
Measures.G/L/59
Page 3
ANNEX TO THE DECISION ON NOTIFICATION OF
QUANTITATIVE RESTRICTIONS
Symbols to be used in notifications of quantitative restrictions2
P Prohibition
CP Prohibition except under defined conditionsGQ Global quota
GQC Global quota allocated by country
BQ Bilateral quota (i.e. anything less than a global quota)AL Automatic licensingNAL Non-automatic licensingSTR Quantitative restriction made effective through state-trading operations
MXR Mixing regulation
MPR Minimum price, triggering a quantitative restrictionVER "Voluntary" export restraintadd the following suffixes to the above as appropriate:-S Seasonal restriction-X Export restriction
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    2BISD 32S/108