aRGENTINA – SAFEGUARD MEASURES ON IMPORTS OF FOOTWEAR

Request for the Establishment of a Panel by Indonesia

            The following communication, dated 15 April 1999, from the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated pursuant to Article 6.2 of the DSU.

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            Upon instruction from my government, I have the honor to request the establishment of a panel pursuant to Article XXIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994), Articles 4 and 6 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes and Article 14 of the Agreement on Safeguards, with regard to the provisional and the definitive safeguard measures imposed (and subsequently modified) by Argentina on imports of footwear.

            Under Resolution 226/97, published in the Official Journal of the Argentine Republic No. 28592 on 24 February 1997, Argentina imposed a provisional safeguard measure in the form of minimum specific duties on imports of footwear effective as of 25 February 1997.  By letter dated 25 July 1997, the Permanent Mission of Argentina notified the World Trade Organization of the determination of serious injury made by the National Foreign Trade Commission (CNCE) on 25 June 1997 in the investigation into footwear imports being carried out in the Argentine Republic.  The report approved by the CNCE was circulated on 21 August 1997 to WTO Members as part of the notification designated as G/SG/N/8/ARG/1.  Under Resolution 987/97, published in the Official Journal of the Argentine Republic No. 28729 on 12 September 1997, Argentina imposed a definitive safeguard measure in the form of minimum specific duties on imports of footwear effective as of 13 September 1997.

            In November 1998, Argentina adopted Resolution 1506, followed by the issuance of Decision 837/98 dated 4 December 1998, which modified Resolution 987/97 and imposed a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on footwear imports in addition to the safeguard duties previously imposed.  Moreover, Resolution 1506 postpones any liberalization of the original safeguard duty until 25 February 2000, and liberalizes the TRQ only once during the life of the measure.  Argentina has not notified this measure to the Committee on Safeguards.