Protocol 2 on the implementation of Article 9

• Pages: 200-201

Page 200

1. The Parties agree that every endeavour should be made to avoid recourse being had to the safeguard measures provided for under Article 8.

2. Both Parties are guided by the conviction that the implementation on Article 9(4) and (5) would enable them to recognize, at an early stage, problems which could arise and, taking account of all relevant factors, avoid as far as possible recourse to measures which the Community would prefer not to adopt vis--vis its preferential trading partners.

3. Both Parties acknowledge the need for implementation of the mechanism of advance information provided for under Article 9 (4), the objective of which is to limit, in the case of sensitive products, the risks of sudden or unforeseen recourse to safeguard measures. These arrangements will permit the maintenance of a regular flow of trade information and the simultaneous implementation of regular consultation procedures. Thus the two Parties will be in a position to follow closely the trends in the sensitive sectors and detect problems which could arise.

4. The following two procedures result from this :

   1. The statistical surveillance mechanism Without prejudice to internal arrangements that the Community may apply to control its imports, Article 9 (4) provides for the institution of a mechanism intended to ensure statistical surveillance of certain ACP exports to the Community and thus facilitate the examination of occurrences such as to cause market disturbances.

      This mechanism, the sole objective of which is to facilitate the exchange ofPage 201 information between the parties, should apply only to products, which the Community considers, insofar as it is concerned, as sensitive.

      The implementation of this mechanism will be the subject of a joint agreement on the basis of data to be furnished by the Community and with the help of statistical information to be communicated by the ACP States to the Commission at the latter's request.

      For the effective implementation of this mechanism it is necessary that the ACP States concerned provide the Commission, as far as possible on a monthly basis, with statistics relating to their exports to the Community and to each of its Member States of products considered by the Community to be sensitive.

   2. A procedure for regular consultation.

      The statistical surveillance mechanism mentioned above will enable the two Parties better to follow the trends in trade likely to cause concern. On the basis of this information and in accordance with Article 9 (5), the Community and the ACP States will have the possibility of holding periodic consultations in order to ensure that the objectives of that Article are fulfilled. These consultations will take place at the request of either Party.

5. If the conditions of application of safeguard measures as provided for in Article 8 are fulfilled, it would be the responsibility of the Community, in accordance with Article 9(1) relating to prior consultations concerning the application of safeguard measures, to enter immediately into consultations with the ACP States concerned by providing them with all the information necessary for those consultations, especially the necessary data from which to determine to what extent imports of a specific product from an ACP State or States have caused or threatened to cause serious injury to the Community's domestic producers of like or directly competitive products or serious disturbances in a sector of the economy of the Community or difficulties which could bring about serious deterioration in the economic situation of a region of the Community.

6. If no other arrangement has been concluded in the meanwhile with the ACP State or States concerned, the competent authorities of the Community may, at the end of the twenty-one day period provided for in respect of those consultations, take the appropriate measures for the implementation of Article 8.

   These measures shall be communicated immediately to the ACP States and become immediately applicable.

7. This procedure would apply without prejudice to measures, which could be taken in the event of special factors within the meaning of Article 9(3). In this case all relevant information will be supplied promptly to the ACP States.

8. In this case, the interests of the least developed, landlocked and island ACP States will receive particular attention, in accordance with Article 2 of the Agreement.