GD/48
Article XXII Consultations - Request by the Dominican Republic for a Consultation with the Member States of the EEC on Sugar
Other titles
Products at Issue
| Products at issue |
Sugar
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| Type of product |
Agricultural
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| Product sub-type |
Sugar and confectionary
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Related disputes
| GATT | |
| WTO |
| No of Pages (total / legal reasoning) | |
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Timeline
| Request for consultations |
Outcome
| Outcome of the proceedings |
Consultations held
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| Additional Info | L/832 (14/07/1958) Requested consultations with the six member States of the EEC regarding the effect on the trade in sugar of the provisions of the Rome Treaty relating both to the proposed tariff and to the association of Overseas Territories. (original underlined)IC/SR.41 (08/10/1958) Intersessional Committee Summary Record (24-26/09/1958) Claims to be joined by United States. Reserved their right to request joining consultations: Czechoslovakia. SR.13/8 (30/10/1958) Summary Record of the Eighth Meeting (23/10/1958) Possibility of beginning consultations the week of 03/11/1958 L/1006 (04/06/1959) The Rome Treaty - Consultations under Article XXII (Statement by the Commission of the European Economic Community): consultations on cocoa, coffee, bananas, tobacco and tea were held in November 1958 and February 1959. Second consultations on sugar had not been held. It did not seem that the consultations had fully allayed the fears of possible effects of the Rome Treaty on the future of their foreign trade, but no action on products covered by the consultations had yet resulted in actual damage being caused to the trade of other CP. Consultations had been useful to appraise more accurately the problems which were raised, and remained open to resuming consultations and to consultations on additional products. Note: Consultations held under GATT XXII, although the matter was then referred to as multilateral consultations. There is no record of submission of the Report for adoption. Background: The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was signed on 18/04/1951, entered into force on 23/07/1952 and expired on 23/07/2002. Its members maintained initially their individual GATT Schedules of commitments. The European Economic Community (EEC) was established by the Treaty of Rome, which entered into force on 01/01/1958 with its original six members: Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Contracting Parties agreed to begin with Article XXII consultations to deal with specific and procedural problems which might arise from the insititution of the EEC, leaving aside for the time being questions of law and compatibility of the Treaty of Rome with GATT XXIV. The consultations were completed without satisfactory results for the non-EEC participants. Further to this effort, during the Dillon Round, Contracting Parties held a Tariff Conference between 1960-1961, also known as the Geneva Tariff Conference. It was divided in two parts: a first part to hold Article XXIV:6 negotiations with the EEC member states (which had been left temporarily left aside during Article XXII consultations); and a second part to have a multilateral round of tariff negotiations. After the negotiations that followed, a new Schedule XL was established replacing for the most part the individual Schedules of the 6 EEC Member States. Concessions regarding the products falling within the purview of the European Coal and Steel Community were not withdrawn from the individual Schedules as a consequence of these negotiations. However, those products were later renegotiated under Article XXIV:6 during the Kennedy Round (1964-1967) when they were incorporated in a separate Schedule XL bis. There were additional negotiations under Article XXIV:6 negotiations and replacements of Schedules following the enlargement EEC. Procedure: IC/SR.38 (19/05/1958) Intersessional Committee - Summary Record of the Meetings (14/04/1958 - 02/05/1958) pages 19-22 Draft Conclusions of the Intersessional Committee following discussions of the Rome Treaty. Committee agreed upon procedures to be followed in dealing with specific and procedural problems which might arise from the institution of the European Economic Community, with regards to the relevant provisions of the Treaty of Rome. The Intersessional Committee felt it would be more fruitful to direct attention to specific and practical problems leaving aside for the time being questions of law and compatibility of the Treaty of Rome with GATT XXIV. "Noted that the normal procedure of the General Agreement and the technique and traditions of the Contracting Parties in applying them, were well adapted to the handling of such problems. GATT XXII most appropriate, and GATT XXII:1 adequate to deal with joint consultations (substantial trade interest). Annex on Procedures: BISD 7S/24 Consultation - Procedures under Article XXII on Questions affecting the Interests of a Number of Contracting Parties. Procedures Adopted on 10 November 1958. L/822 (30/05/1958) European Economic Community - Procedures for Consultations -Communication from the President of the Council of the European Economic Community (21/05/1958): The Six Governments of the EEC agreed to the conclusions in IC/SR.38 and the "normal character of the procedure". L/822/Add.1 (19/06/1958) The Commission of the EEC also concur in the draft conclusions proposed by the Intersessional Committee in IC/SR.38. IC/SR.41 (08/10/1958) Intersessional Committee Summary Record (24-26/09/1958) Executive Secretary: The provisions of the procedures for consultations IC/SR.38 (c) on the consent of consulting Contracting Parties to be joined by other Contracting Parties, were not clear and suggested an amendment. The Committee recommended the submission of proposals to amend the procedures in advance of the following Committee meeting. L/886 (18/10/1958) Report of the Intersessional Committee - Report submitted to the Contracting Parties on the Work of the Committee between the Twelfth and Thirteenth Sessions. Amendments recommended, but their examination should not interfere with the conduct of consultations already engaged under the procedures approved in IC/SR.38. SR.13/15 (19/11/1958) CP Thirteenth Session - Summary Record of the Fifteenth Meeting (10/11/1958) Approval of recommendations from the Intersessional Committee L/886, Sec. I(a) "It was intended that such multilateral consultations on questions affecting the interests of a number of a number of contracting parties (...) were not intended to relate only to consultations between contracting parties and Members of the European Economic Community, but for any consultations under Article XXII on matters affecting more than one contracting party." The procedures proposed by the Committee were set out on page 3 of L/886, which included amendments proposed by the Executive Summary to take into account points raised by Contracting Parties: to provide a time limit for requests to join consultations and only the CP to which the request was addressed needed to give its agreement. L/928 (21/11/1958) Consultations under Article XXII - Procedures adopted on 10 November 1958. Approval of recommendations from the Intersessional Committee. These procedures were agreed "as a matter of convenience and in order to facilitate the observance of the basic principles and objectives of the General Agreement", and were a means to ensure ensure that the interests of other contracting parties were taken into account in the consultations. W.13/5 (18/10/1958) CP Thirteenth Session - Article XXII Consultations - Requests for consultations with Member States of the European Economic Community W.13/49/Rev.1 (20/11/1958) The Rome Treaties - Statement of Conclusions for Approval by the Contracting Parties (Proposals by the Drafting Group) Conclusions of the Contracting Parties based on the Chairman's summary of the debate at SR.13/15. SR.13/19 (02/12/1958) CP Thirteenth Session -- Summary Record of the Nineteenth Meeting (21/11/1958) Discussions and approval of statement of conclusions: The Contracting Parties approved the conclusions (from W.13/49/Rev.1). L/936 (22/11/1958) The Rome Treaty - Statement by the Representative of the Council of Ministers of the EEC on 21 November 1958 on GATT XXII consultations. |