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8.
Item 5: Zenith Case (L/4500)
Sawaki (Japan) explained that Japan had raised this issue because of its potential effects on world trade in general, on the foundations of the GATT and (possibly even) on the future of the MTNS. The US Customs Court ruling and the subsequent Treasury Department action suspending customs liquidation were in clear con- tradiction with the GATT and impaired Japan's rights. Japan wanted a clear-cut statement of view by the Contracting Parties on the matter and proposed to this end the immediate establishment of a working party to consider the matter in the light of Articles VI.4 and XVI (note) and to report "expeditiously" Meanwhile Japan reserved her GATT rights fully. Brungart (US) did not dispute the facts, as stated by Sawaki. He could not, however, agree with certain of the conclusions drawn as to the trade effects of the US action and its consistency with the GATT. The US had not imposed countervailing duties and the bonding procedures intro- duced were not really onerous and were not a serious impediment to trade. Nor were they part of any wider programme of harrassment of Japanese electronic products (as Sawaki had claimed).
Cus
The
which
Administration were suppalin the tyskam₤nfs¥ratissis following. But the US could accept the proposed working party and its terms of reference. For the Community Luyten spoke as agreed in co-ordination (text by bag), drawing attention to the potential
The implications for international trade in the widest sense. Community could support the proposed working party but thought that the terms of reference should not limit the area of examination to the two GATT provisions cited. Finland for the Nordics and Canada agreed. Brungart feared that any such modification of the terms of reference would alter the whole scope of the exercise, and was in any case beyond his instructions. The Chairman, however, observed that it was normal enough for any relevant GATT points to be admissible, whether enumerated specifically or not. Brungart conceded that there could be no objection to the introduction of arguments drawn from other Articles, though if "extraneous matters" were introduced the working party's work might well be delayed (apparently they hope it will in fact concentrate on the question of countervailing actions against remission of indirect taxes). working party was accordingly set up with terms of reference as proposed by Sawaki and under the Chairmanship of Farnon (New Zealand). Its first meeting is scheduled for 2-3 June.
Item 6: DISC etc (L/4422 to 4425)
9.
The
Luyten explained (text by bag) why the Community had asked for DISC to re-appear on the agenda. The case of DISC was clear and not (apparently) in dispute and should therefore have been disposed of by GATT already. It seemed that the only impediment was the artificial link which the US had established with certain other matters. Jay (Canada) agreed that Contracting Parties had a right to expect the earliest possible consideration to be given to the
They termination of DISC in the light of the Panel's findings.
looked forward to an early decision on the basis of the DISC report accordingly. The reports on the income practices of France, Belgium and Netherlands on the other hand did indeed appear to require
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