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09 February 2015
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1. AT WTO, U.S., OTHERS CRITICIZE TRADE POLICIES IN RUSSIA, UKRAINE, INDONESIA.................
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At this week's Goods Council meeting, these WTO members noted that six months have passed since Ukraine
filed its notification, but that it still has not responded to these claims of interests, which were submitted in midDecember, sources said. Ukraine took note of these statements and said it would relay them back to its capital,
stressing that its notification serves a legitimate purpose, according to these sources.
The U.S. also pushed back against comments made by Ukraine at a February General Council meeting. While
Ukraine at that meeting argued that its Article XXVIII proposed actions would only cover 3 percent of its tariff
schedule, the U.S. this week countered that these tariff lines cover products that are critically important to
Ukraine and the countries that export to it.
Secondly, the U.S. said there are a number of reasons to doubt Ukraine's contention that it has not indicated an
intent to withdraw any concession and that it may not actually raise its bound duties to higher levels. One
reason is that Ukraine has already made clear it is interested in raising tariffs where possible. Specifically, the
U.S. noted that Ukraine's legislature recently raised roughly 100 applied tariffs to their bound levels, and that it
has also raised two auto tariffs above their bound levels by instituting a safeguard earlier this month.
Another reason is that, even though the procedures of Article XVIII state that if a WTO members wants to
modify a concession under this article then the proposed modification should be stated in the initial notification
or as soon as possible thereafter, Ukraine has yet to indicate its proposed modifications, the U.S. said. It
questioned why Ukraine would initiate the Article XXVIII process at all if it did not intend to raise its tariff
bindings.
In a related development, the U.S., EU and Japan charged that Ukraine had failed to live up to the procedural
requirements of the WTO Agreement on Safeguards when it imposed the safeguard on two auto tariff lines.
Article 12.1 of the Safeguards Agreement requires members to notify the WTO of the initiation of a safeguard
investigation, the finding of serious injury or threat thereof caused by increased imports, or the decision to apply
a safeguard measure. Article 12.3 requires that WTO members proposing to apply a safeguard measure
provide adequate opportunity for prior consultations with other interested members.
In its Goods Council statement, the U.S. said that the results of Ukraine's safeguard investigation were never
notified to members and that the consultation requirement had not been met. As a result, the U.S. and EU
called on Ukraine to either withdraw the safeguard measures or suspend their April 14 implementation, permit
disclosure of pertinent information to all WTO members, and allow for consultations prior introduction of the
safeguard.
On Indonesia, the U.S. blasted a wide range Indonesian trade policies that it said are restricting access to that
country's market and affecting Indonesia's ability to fulfill its WTO commitments. The U.S. had previously raised
these concerns at meetings of the Goods Council last June and last November, and has already initiated one
WTO dispute over Indonesia's import licensing requirements for horticultural products, animals and animal
products.
Indonesia this week blocked a first request by the U.S. for a WTO panel in this dispute, but would have to agree
to the establishment of a panel if the U.S. makes a second request (see related story).
At the March 25 Goods Council meeting, the U.S. said it continues to have many questions about Indonesia's
entire import licensing regime, going beyond the specific measures challenged in the WTO dispute, and how
they are consistent with the GATT and the WTO Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures. It said it was
considering raising additional concerns at the April meeting of the Import Licensing Committee.
Subject: International trade; Meetings; Councils; Studies;
Location: Ukraine, Japan, Russia, United States--US
Company / organization: Name: European Union; NAICS: 926110, 928120; Name: World Trade Organization;
NAICS: 928120;
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