BRAZIL – MEASURES ON MINIMUM IMPORT PRICES
Request
for Consultations by the United States
The
following communication, dated 30 May 2000, from the Permanent Mission of the
United States to the Permanent Mission of Brazil and to the Chairman of the
Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated in accordance with Article 4.4 of the
DSU.
_______________
My
authorities have instructed me to request consultations with the Government of
Brazil pursuant to Articles 1 and 4 of the Understanding on Rules and
Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Article XXII of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994), Article 19
of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994 (Agreement
on Customs Valuation), Article 6 of the Agreement on Import Licensing
Procedures, Article 19 of the Agreement on Agriculture, and Article 8.4 of
the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing with respect to Brazil's use of minimum
import prices for customs valuation purposes.
On
13 February 1998, Brazil established under Decree No. 2.498/98 and
other related statutes and regulations a system to verify the declared values
of imported goods. In practice, however,
Brazil utilizes this verification system – in conjunction with non‑automatic
import licensing procedures – to prohibit or restrict the import of
products with declared values below the arbitrarily determined minimum
prices. This situation appears
inconsistent with Articles 1 through 7, and 12 of the Agreement on Customs
Valuation; general notes 1, 2 and 4 of
Annex 1 of the Agreement on Customs Valuation; Articles II and XI of the GATT 1994; Articles 1 and 3 of the Agreement on Import
Licensing Procedures; Articles 2 and 7
of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing;
and Article 4.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture.
We
look forward to receiving your reply to the present request and to fixing a
mutually convenient date for consultations.