Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GENEVA1620
2005-06-30 11:35:00
UNCLASSIFIED
US Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

WTO IMPORT LICENSING COMMITTEE - JUNE 15, 2005

Tags:  ETRD WTRO USTR 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 001620 

SIPDIS

PASS USTR FOR ALLGEIER, DWOSKIN, AND KLEIN
EB/OT FOR CRAFT
USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIKH, MTND/HENKE
USDOC FOR ITA/JACOBS AND MENDOZA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD WTRO USTR
SUBJECT: WTO IMPORT LICENSING COMMITTEE - JUNE 15, 2005


Summary

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GENEVA 001620

SIPDIS

PASS USTR FOR ALLGEIER, DWOSKIN, AND KLEIN
EB/OT FOR CRAFT
USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIKH, MTND/HENKE
USDOC FOR ITA/JACOBS AND MENDOZA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD WTRO USTR
SUBJECT: WTO IMPORT LICENSING COMMITTEE - JUNE 15, 2005


Summary


1. Begin Summary. The June 15, 2005 meeting of the Import
Licensing Committee began with a call from the chair for Members
to catch up with required notifications and then featured issues
raised by the United States, Australia, and Chinese Taipei
regarding the import licensing practices of other Members. The
United States recalled questions to Brazil on licensing
requirements for lithium products and to the European Communities
on uranium, asking when written responses would be received.
Other issues raised by the United States included Turkey's import
licensing requirements on rice, China's procedures for importing
scrap and waste material, Indonesia's import licensing
requirements on certain textiles, and Venezuela's licensing
procedures on certain agricultural products. In addition, the
United States requested an updated notification from Malaysia
with particular emphasis on requirements affecting trade in motor
vehicles, construction equipment, paper, and wood products.
Among the issues raised by other Members included China's new
licensing requirements for iron ore (by Australia) and China's
use of automatic licensing and licensing in tariff-rate quotas
(by Chinese Taipei). The next meeting is set for September 28,

2005. End Summary.




Opening Remarks


2. The outgoing chair, Victoria Campeanu of Romania, began with
an assessment of the notification situation, stating that
although notifications have improved there is still a long way to
go. She "named names" - she read out the list of 23 Members that
have not made a single notification to the Committee since its
inception in 1995 and in doing so she gave particular emphasis to
major WTO players including Egypt and Thailand. She urged
Members to submit notifications without further delay.


3. The US delegation made the introductory points contained in
instructions, expressing appreciation for the work of the chair
and for all of the submissions made by the Members since the last
meeting of the Committee. He noted that providing notifications
and responding to questions are essential elements of WTO
Members' obligations and tangible evidence of the respect they
owe each other as Members - to be both transparent in the

administration of their trade regimes and responsive to
legitimate requests for information about access to each other's
markets.

Issues Raised by the United States


4. Per instructions, the United States raised the following
issues and/or questions during the meeting.

Brazil - Lithium Products


5. The US representative recalled the questions in G/LIC/Q/BRA/3
regarding Brazil's import licensing requirements for lithium
products and asked when written responses would be ready.
Brazil's delegate opined that import restrictions are necessary
because of "potential risks" and "nuclear ends" but he also
acknowledged US concerns and said a special inter-ministerial
commission - involving the Ministry of Energy and Mining, the
Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of External
Trade, the Ministry of External Relations, and the National
Commission of Nuclear Energy - had been created to study them.
Those debates take time, he said, and Brazil is not yet able to
provide a detailed response. He did provide some preliminary
statistics - for the years 2000-05, 65 licenses were "conceded,"
24 were "not conceded," and 28 requests are still pending. Trade
values are small, he said, amounting to $3,281 in 2004 (135
kilos) and $3,346 in 2003 (116 kilos).


EC - Uranium


6. Per instructions, the US representative sought a response to
its questions regarding the European Communities' import
licensing requirements on enriched uranium (document
G/LIC/Q/EEC/3). The EC delegate replied that the European
Communities is currently finishing its response, both for the
Committee and in the form of a letter from Commissioner Mandelson
to Ambassador Portman. The EC delegate said the letter needed
only a few modifications and corrections and would be sent to
Ambassador Portman shortly. In her comments, she described the
Treaty of Corfu as a confidential document, but left open the
possibility of disclosing more information about the import
restrictions imposed and the requirements that enforce them.

Turkey - Import Licensing Requirements for Rice


7. The US representative made all the points in the
instructions, noting that Turkey published changes to its import
licensing system for rice three times in 2004, yet none of these
changes were notified to the WTO. He emphasized that US
exporters have had problems securing import permits for rice, and
he strongly urged Turkey to resume the year-round issuance of
import licenses for rice imports without requiring the purchase
of domestic rice. In addition, the US representative asked
Turkey to promptly submit appropriate notifications regarding its
licensing regime for rice and other products and to update its
annual import licensing questionnaire to cover these products.
(Note: Turkey did not have a representative at the meeting, so
the US representative sent a copy of his statement to the Turkish
mission, which acknowledged receipt and promised to forward the
statement to Ankara for response.)

Venezuela - Licensing Restrictions on Various
Agricultural Products


8. The US representative indicated that Venezuela's existing
notifications did not appear to cover import licensing
requirements on certain agricultural products including potatoes,
onions, fertilized eggs, day-old chicks, and meat products. He
urged Venezuela to review the situation and to submit updated
notifications. (Note: Venezuela did not have a representative at
the meeting, so the US representative sent a text version of the
US statement to Venezuela's mission with a request that a
response be provided.)

Malaysia - Licensing Requirements for Various Products


9. Per instructions, the US representative asked Malaysia to
update its questionnaire, specifically with reference to import
licensing requirements on motor vehicles, construction equipment,
paper, and wood products. Malaysia's representative took note of
the request and said a response would be provided following
consultations with his authorities.

Indonesia - Licensing Restrictions on Textiles


10. Per instructions, the US representative made a statement
regarding import licensing restrictions on certain textiles. He
referred to the US questions raised at the October 2003 and May
2004 meetings, expressing general concern that the use of non-
automatic licenses as a form of import regulation is inconsistent
with Indonesia's WTO commitments and that requirements
established by Decree 732/2002 continue to restrict and distort
trade. He identified specific concerns about the decree,
including limitations on the use of imported fabric and who can
import it, requirements that approved importers seek approval
from the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the quantity and
timing of imports, and requirements that importers submit to the
Ministry a monthly report tracking each importation by date,
destination, quantity, price, duty, and country of origin. He
requested that Indonesia eliminate or modify its existing
licensing regime to address these concerns and said that the
United States looks forward to working with Indonesia to achieve
this objective.

China - Registration of Scrap and Waste Imports


11. Per instructions, the US representative asked China to
clarify when it will formally reopen the registration process for
scrap and waste material. China's representative took note of
the question and replied that it would likely be "favorably
considered" in Beijing.

Issues Raised by Other Members


12. Australia and Chinese Taipei also posed questions, both
directed at China, during the meeting.

Australia - Questions to China


13. Australia flagged its general interest in getting more
information from China on import licensing requirements
introduced on March 1, 2005 for iron ore. (Note: On the fringes
of the meeting, Australia met bilaterally with China to pose more
specific questions, including 1) when does China plan to notify
these new requirements, 2) for what reasons has China brought
iron ore within the scope of automatic licensing, 3) why has
China decided to impose qualifying criteria on enterprises
seeking licenses, 4) what specifically are those qualifying
criteria, 5) for what other products, if any, has China imposed
qualifying criteria for automatic licensing, and 6) in China's
estimation, what effect will these new requirements have on
imports in general and historical exporters in particular. They
have requested bilateral replies by July 15.)

Chinese Taipei - Questions to China

14. The chair noted that G/LIC/Q/CHN/14 with questions from
Chinese Taipei to China was first raised at the September 2004
meeting. Chinese Taipei recalled its interest in receiving
responses. China replied that it has not yet received the
document, a requirement under the working procedures of the
Committee, and therefore it is not required to respond. Chinese
Taipei observed that the document was sent to the Chinese mission
and it is also available on the WTO website. The discussion
continued back and forth without resolution, with Korea's
delegate weighing in to try to clarify why China was not
answering questions that seem to be readily available. (Note:
Evidently not all Members were aware that China refused to accept
the questions when they were sent through diplomatic channels.
Korea's delegate admitted afterwards that he intervened out of
confusion - because he did not immediately grasp why China was
ducking the questions - and that he did so without instructions
from Seoul.)

Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair


15. The Committee unanimously elected a new chair, Pam Cooper of
Canada, and a new vice chair, Peter Govindasamy of Singapore.

Next Meeting


16. The next meeting of the Committee has been tentatively set
for September 28, 2005. That meeting will include the fourth
transitional review of China and, as part of regular business,
the European Communities and Brazil may finally provide
substantive responses to US queries on enriched uranium and
lithium products, respectively. Shark