RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/SG/M/2
24October 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-3244)
Committee onSafeguards
MINUTES OFTHE SPECIAL MEETING
HELD ON13-14 JULY 1995
Chairman: Mr.J.Ruiz(Argentina)
1. TheCommittee onSafeguards heldaspecial meeting on13and14July1995. Thefollowing
agenda wasadopted:
A. Election ofVice-Chairman
B. Notifications oflegislation pursuant toArticle 12.6oftheAgreement
(i) European Community (G/SG/N/1/EEC/1)
(ii) Colombia (G/SG/N/1/COL/1)
(iii) Canada (G/SG/N/1/CAN/1)
(iv) Costa Rica(G/SG/N/1/CRI/1)
C. Future meetings toreview notifications ofsafeguards legislation
D. Other business: Participation byinternational organizations asobservers atfuture
meetings oftheCommittee.
A. Election ofVice-Chairman
2. TheCommittee elected Mr.Andràs Lakatos ofHungary Vice-Chairman.
B. Notifications oflegislation pursuant toArticle 12.6oftheAgreement
3. TheChairman observed thattheprincipal itemontheagenda forthisspecial meeting wasthe
review oflegislation, intheorder listed intheAgenda. TheChairman reminded Members thatwritten
questions were tohavebeensubmitted toboththeMembers whose legislation wastobereviewed,
andtotheSecretariat, aminimum oftwoweeks before themeeting. However, noMembers submitted
theirquestions bythedeadline, andmany questions werereceived wellafterthedeadline. Totheextent
possible, questions received lateweretranslated andcirculated toallMembers. Given theshort time
available, translation ofallquestions intoalllanguages hadnotbeenpossible, butwiththeaidofthe
interpreters, theCommittee should beabletoproceed without difficulty. TheChairman observed
thatthelatereceipt ofquestions hadsignificantly increased theburden onMembers whotriedtoprepare
answers forthismeeting, aswellasmade thetaskoforganizing thereview verydifficult. Henoted
thehopethat,timepermitting, forfuture meetings theperiod between receipt ofquestions andmeetingsG/SG/M/2
Page2
would beincreased, emphasizing thatitwascritical thatwritten questions besubmitted inatimely
manner. Questions submitted latewould notbeprocessed andcirculated toMembers forpreparation
ofanswers. While these questions could ofcourse beasked atthemeeting, theability ofMembers
toprepare answers toquestions theyknow willbeasked isvitally important totheCommittee 'sability
toreview legislation.
4. TheChairman reminded theCommittee thatMembers whodidnotsubmit written questions
werefreetoaskquestions atthismeeting, andtomake comments. However, anysuchquestions should
besubsequently provided inwriting totheMember whose legislation itconcerned, andtotheSecretariat.
Similarly, allMembers should follow uptheiroralresponse toquestions inthismeeting withawritten
response by15September 1995, which should besubmitted totheSecretariat forcirculation tothe
Committee. Members wereofcourse freetosupplement theanswers provided inthemeeting intheir
written answers.
5. TheChairmannotedthat,inlightofthenumberofquestionsalreadysubmittedandthelikelihood
thatMembers would haveadditional questions toposeatthemeeting, itwaspossible thattheCommittee
would notbeabletotouch upon allquestions withrespect toallfourlegislations ontheagenda, and
reminded Members thatthiswasnottheonlyopportunity theywould havetodiscuss theselegislations.
Heobserved thatifitappeared necessary, hewould direct theCommittee toproceed tothenextquestion,
orcutoffthediscussion ofeachlegislation, insufficient timetoallow theCommittee toproceed to
theother legislations ontheagenda, sothatallthelegislations before theCommittee would bediscussed
inthismeeting.
6. Regarding theconduct ofthemeeting, theChairman noted thateachlegislation, thequestions
regarding thatlegislation, andthemanner inwhich theMember prepared forthereview, wasdifferent.
Thus, there wasaneedforsome flexibility intheprocedures depending onthelegislation concerned.
7. TheChairman exhorted Members moststrongly nottorepeat questions thathadalready been
posed. Heemphasized thattheCommittee wasfaced withachoice ofeither reviewing apartofthe
legislations ontheagenda ingreatdetail, orconsidering themintheirentirety, butinlessdetail. The
Committee could notdoboth, andatsome point, discussion would becutoffifnecessary. Ofcourse,
simply because noquestions were asked concerning aparticular provision would notpreclude later
questions from anyMembers regarding thatprovision.
8. TheCommittee proceeded tothesubstantive review ofthelegislations ontheagenda.
9. Thequestions posed regarding theEuropean Community 'slegislation canbefound inthe
following documents:
G/SG/W/2 (submitted byCanada)
G/SG/W/8 (submitted byAustralia)
G/SG/W/9 (submitted byKorea)
G/SG/W/17 (submitted byUSA)
G/SG/W/23 (submitted byJapan)
Theanswers provided bytheECtothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/34 (replies toUS)
G/SG/W/35 (replies toCanada)
G/SG/W/36 (replies toAustralia)
G/SG/W/37 (replies toKorea)
G/SG/W/28 (replies toJapan)G/SG/M/2
Page3
10. Thequestions posed regarding Colombia 'slegislation canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/4 (submitted byCanada)
G/SG/W/7 (submitted byAustralia)
G/SG/W/11 (submitted byKorea)
G/SG/W/14 (submitted byJapan)
G/SG/W/16 (submitted byEC)
G/SG/W/20 (submitted byUSA)
G/SG/W/26 (submitted byHungary)
Theanswers provided byColombia tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/33 (replies toAustralia, Canada, EC,Japan, Korea)
11. Thequestions posed regarding Canada 'slegislation canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/5 (submitted byEC)
G/SG/W/10 (submitted byKorea)
G/SG/W/13 (submitted byJapan)
G/SG/W/18 (submitted byUSA)
G/SG/W/22 (submitted byAustralia)
G/SG/W/25 (submitted byNewZealand)
Theanswers provided byCanada tothese questions canbefound inthefollowing documents:
G/SG/W/27 (replies toKorea)
G/SG/W/28 (replies toAustralia)
G/SG/W/29 (replies toEC)
G/SG/W/30 (replies toJapan)
G/SG/W/31 (replies toNewZealand)
G/SG/W/32 (replies toUSA)
12. Thequestions posed regarding Costa Rica'slegislation canbefound inthefollowing documents.
G/SG/W/3 (submitted byCanada)
G/SG/W/6 (submitted byAustralia)
G/SG/W/12 (submitted byKorea)
G/SG/W/15 (submitted byJapan)
G/SG/W/19 (submitted byUSA)
G/SG/W/21 (submitted byEC)
Theanswers provided byCosta Ricatothese questions canbefound inthefollowing document:
G/SG/W/24 (replies toAustralia, Canada, EC,Japan, Korea, USA)
13. Before turning totheschedule forfuture meetings toreview legislation, theChairman observed
thattheCommittee hadmade excellent progress initstaskofreviewing legislations atthismeeting.
Hethanked thedelegations forthehardwork theyhadputintopreparing forthemeeting andthe
seriousness withwhich theyundertook thetask.
14. TheChairman briefly reviewed thestatus ofnotifications oflegislation. Inaddition tothe
Memberswhoselegislationhadalreadybeenalreadyscheduledforreview,notificationshadbeenreceivedG/SG/M/2
Page4
from: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, ElSalvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Singapore, SriLanka, Turkey, Uruguay, andVenezuela. No
notifications hadbeenreceived from: Antigua andBarbuda, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize,
Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti,
Dominica,DominicanRepublic,Gabon,Ghana,GuineaBissau,Guyana,Iceland,India,Jamaica,Kenya,
Kuwait, Lesotho, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar,
Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent &Grenadines, Senegal,
Slovak Republic, South Africa, Suriname, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Trinidad
andTobago, Uganda, Zambia, andZimbabwe.
15. TheChairman tookadvantage oftheopportunity toconsider whathadbeenaccomplished in
theareaofnotifications oflegislation, andwhat remained tobedone. Ontheonehand, itwas
noteworthy thatmost oftheWTO Members whohadbeenknown toimpose safeguard measures in
thepasthadnotified theirlegislation totheCommittee. Infact,mostofthese Members respected the
15March indicative datesetbytheCommittee. Ontheother hand, 52Members hadnotyetnotified
theCommittee regarding thestatus oftheirlegislation, ifany. Ifthese Members didnothaveany
relevant legislation, itshould beeasyforthem tonotify theCommittee ofthatfact. Iftheydidhave
suchlegislation, itwasimportant thatitbenotified, orifitwasnotpossible tonotify immediately,
notify theCommittee ofanindicative datewhen notification willbemade. TheChairman urged
Members thathadnotyetdonesotonotify theCommittee concerning theirlegislation attheearliest
possible date. Heobserved thatthenotification oflegislation isofvitalimportance totheCommittee 's
ability tocarryoutitsresponsibilities under theAgreement, andreminded Members that,under Article 3
oftheAgreement,untillegislationorregulationsestablishingtheproceduresforimpositionofasafeguard
measure havebeenpublished, nosafeguard actions canbetaken under theAgreement.
16. TheChairman observed thatitwaslikely thattheCommittees onAnti-dumping andSubsidies
andCountervailing Measures would holdtwomore special meetings toreview legislation in1995.
Heproposed thatthisCommittee alsoschedule special meetings, tobeheldinconjunction withthe
special jointmeetings oftheAnti-dumping andSubsidies andCountervailing Measures Committees,
toreview theremaining legislations thathadbeennotified. Thespecific dates formeetings werestill
being discussed, although theChairmen intended topropose aspecific schedule attheendofthejoint
special meeting nextweek, sothatMembers would beabletoprepare forthose meetings.
17. TheChairman reminded Members thatthelistofcountries forthesecond review session was
selected inApril. Heproposed thattheorder ofreview would beNew Zealand, Romania, the
United States, Korea, andThailand. Cuba, Hungary, Israel, Japan, andMexico, hadsubmitted the
textoftheirexisting safeguards legislation, which could bereviewed atthefollowing special meeting.
However, theChairman noted thatadditional legislations might beadded tothereview schedule if
appropriate.
18. TheCommittee sodecided.
D. Other business: Participation byinternational organizations asobservers atfuture meetings
oftheCommittee.
19. TheChairmanrecalledthattheCouncilforTradeinGoodsdecidedatitsmeetingof3April1995
that,pending theadoption ofcriteria andconditions forobserver status ofinternational organizations
intheWTO, eachsubsidiary bodywould decide which intergovernmental/international organizations
should beinvited toitsnextmeeting. Because thisCommittee hadnotmetsince then, nosuch
organizations were invited tothismeeting. However, theIMF, OECD, andtheWorld Bank hadG/SG/M/2
Page5
requested thattheybeallowed toattend meetings oftheSafeguards Committee asObservers. The
ChairmanproposedthattheseorganizationsbeinvitedtothenextmeetingoftheCommitteeasObservers,
andthattheCommittee continue tooperate onthatbasis inthefuture. When thenecessary criteria
forobserver status ofinternational andintergovernmental organizations hadbeenestablished, the
Committee could revert tothematter.
20. TheCommittee sodecided.
21. Themeeting wasadjourned.