GD/170

Japan - Trade in Semi-Conductors

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Other titles

Japan SemiConductors (Source: GATT Analytical Index)

Parties

Complainant
EEC
EEC-12
Respondent
Japan
Third Parties
Australia
Hong Kong
Singapore
Brazil
Canada

Products at Issue

Products at issue
Semi-conductors
Type of product
Non-agricultural
Product sub-type
Machinery; electrical and electronic equipment

Related disputes

GATT
Related GD
GD/177
WTO

Key legal aspects

Legal basis
  • GATT Article XXII:1
Claims raised
  • GATT Article I
  • GATT Article VI
  • GATT Article X
  • GATT Article XI
  • GATT Article XVII:1(c)
  • GATT Article XXIII:1(b)
Defences raised
  • n.a.

Adjudicators

Type Panel
Chairperson Julio Lacarte-Muró (Uruguay)
Other members Crawford Falconer (New Zealand), Joseph A. Greenwald (United States)

Report

Type Panel
Legal basis at issue
  • GATT Article XXII:1
Claims at issue
  • GATT Article I
  • GATT Article VI
  • GATT Article X
  • GATT Article XI:1
  • GATT Article XVII:1(c)
  • GATT Article XXIII:1(b)
Defences at issue
  • n.a.
No of Pages (total / legal reasoning) 47 (and 9 annex)
  • -
  • No inconsistency found
  • Not in report conclusions
  • No inconsistency found
  • Inconsistency found
  • Judicial economy exercised
  • No nullification or impairment found
  • -

Timeline

Request for consultations
Request for establishment
Establishment
Composition
Report
Adoption of report

Outcome

Outcome of the proceedings
Report adopted
Additional Info L/6057 (17/10/1986) Communications from the EEC (08/10/1986) One addressed to Japan and one to the US "in respect of the implications for Community exports and imports of semi-conductors created by the bilateral arrangement recently concluded between the United States of America and Japan regarding trade in these products [L/6076]."

L/6129 (20/02/1987) Request for establishment of a Panel (19/02/1987) referred to Japan's "monitoring measures applied by the Japanese Government"; "provisions on access to the Japanese market" and "lack of transparency."

L/6309 (24/03/1988) Japan – Trade in Semiconductors – Report of the Panel: The requests not to export semi-conductors at prices below company-specific costs to contracting parties other than the United States which the Japanese Government addressed to Japanese producers and exporters of semi-conductors, combined with the statutory requirement for exporters to submit information on export prices and the systematic monitoring of company and product-specific costs and export prices by the Government, backed up with the use of supply and demand forecasts to impress on manufacturers the need to align their production to appropriate levels, constituted a coherent system restricting the sale for export of monitored semi-conductors at prices below company-specific costs to markets other than the United States, inconsistent with Article XI:1. The Panel suggested that the contracting parties recommend that Japan bring its measures relating to the sale for export of semi-conductors to contracting parties other than the United States into conformity with the General Agreement. The delays of up to three months in the issuing of export licences that resulted from the monitoring of costs and export prices of semi-conductors destined for contracting parties other than the United States constituted restrictions on exportation inconsistent with Article XI:1. The Panel suggested that the contracting parties note that Japan had changed in November 1987 its export procedures to avoid such delays. The evidence submitted to the Panel did not demonstrate that Japan's measures to improve access to its market for semi-conductors discriminate in favour of products originating in the United States. The Panel suggests that the contracting parties take note of the statement of the Japanese Government that its policy was to improve the access to the Japanese market for semi-conductors in conformity with the General Agreement's most-favoured-nation principle.