GENERAL AGREEMENT SCM/191

7 March 1995

ON TARIFFS AND TRADE Special Distribution

(95-0494)

Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures

 

 

 

AVOIDANCE OF PROCEDURAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DUPLICATION

Decision adopted by the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures

on 22 February 1995

 

 

The Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures,

Noting that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter referred to as "GATT 1947") and the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (hereinafter referred to as "WTO Agreement") are legally distinct and that Members of the WTO may therefore remain contracting parties to the GATT 1947;

Considering that contracting parties to the GATT 1947 and parties to the Tokyo Round Agreements that are also Members of the WTO should not be subjected to the inconvenience of having to notify and consult on their measures and policies twice;

Desiring, therefore, that the bodies established under the GATT 1947, the Tokyo Round Agreements and the WTO Agreement coordinate their activities to the extent that their functions overlap;

 

Decides to adopt the following procedures:

 

In the period between the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement and the date of the termination of the legal instruments through which the contracting parties apply the GATT 1947 and of the Tokyo Round Agreements the following notification and coordination procedures shall apply under the GATT 1947, the Tokyo Round Agreements and the WTO Agreement:

1. If a measure is subject to a notification obligation both under the WTO Agreement and under the GATT 1947 or a Tokyo Round Agreement, the notification of such a measure to a WTO body shall, unless otherwise indicated in the notification, be deemed to be also a notification of that measure under the GATT 1947 or the Tokyo Round Agreement. Any such notification shall be circulated by the WTO Secretariat simultaneously to the Members of the WTO and to the contracting parties to the GATT 1947 and/or the parties to the Tokyo Round Agreement. These procedures are without prejudice to any notification procedures applicable in specific areas.

 

./.

2. The coordination procedures set out in paragraphs 3 and 4 below shall apply in the relations between the bodies referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) below:

(a) The following Committees established under the GATT 1947 or a Tokyo Round Agreement shall coordinate their activities with the corresponding Committees established under the WTO Agreement:

Committee on Trade and Development,

Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions,

Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices,

Committee on Customs Valuation,

Committee on Import Licensing,

Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures,

Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade.

(b) The Committee on Tariff Concessions and the Technical Group on Quantitative Restrictions and Other Non-Tariff Measures of the GATT 1947 shall coordinate their activities with the WTO Committee on Market Access proposed to be established.

(c) The Working Parties established under the GATT 1947 to examine a regional agreement or arrangement shall coordinate their activities with Working Parties of the WTO that examine the same regional agreement or arrangement.

(d) The GATT 1947 Council of Representatives shall coordinate its trade policy reviews with those of the WTO Trade Policy Review Body.

3. The bodies established under the GATT 1947 or a Tokyo Round Agreement that are referred to in paragraph 2 above shall hold their meetings jointly or consecutively, as appropriate, with the corresponding WTO bodies. In meetings held jointly the rules of procedure to be applied by the WTO body shall be followed. The reports on joint meetings shall be submitted to the competent bodies established under the GATT 1947, the Tokyo Round Agreements and the WTO Agreement.

4. The coordination of activities in accordance with paragraph 3 above shall be conducted in a manner which ensures that the enjoyment of the rights and the performance of the obligations under the GATT 1947, the Tokyo Round Agreements and the WTO Agreement and the exercise of the competence of the CONTRACTING PARTIES to the GATT 1947, the Committees established under the Tokyo Round Agreements and the bodies of the WTO are unaffected.

5. The CONTRACTING PARTIES to the GATT 1947, the Committees established under the Tokyo Round Agreements and the General Council of the WTO may decide independently to terminate the application of the provisions set out in paragraphs 1 to 4 above.