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members of the MFA but not of GATT (there are a few such), however, there was no remedy under GATT provisions, and since the action was outside the MFA no remedy could be sought under the Arrangement either. In any case, any possibility of securing effective action - not to speak of retaliation in so far as developing countries were concerned was extremely meagre because of their basically weak bargaining position. The strictly legal question however remained, namely, that any Arrangement like the MFA could not possibly take away the rights of contracting parties under GATT, and only a convention could be established as to how far action outside the MFA might at all be called for. event, even if action outside MFA and under GATT was to be justified in any circumstances, any tendency to make it selective and discriminatory - as was hinted at during the Textiles Committee discussions - would be injurious and should be resisted.
In any
25. In regard to special and differential treatment for developing countries about which a special provision had been made in Article 6 of the Arrangement, the discussions highlighted the absence of any significant measures on the part of developed countries to implement this provision. It was felt that these provisions required to be strictly adhered to, and in the course of further negotiations efforts should be made to implement the concepts embodied in this Article.
The Body
26. Discussions among participants on the membership and role of the Textiles Surveillance Body were lengthier than expected, and the views expressed at the Seminar somewhat divided. Some stressed the need for larger representation of developing countries in the TSB. now had eight members - four from developed and the other four from developing countries, with the present Chairman from Switzerland; it also happened that in the present TSB, certain developed countries, had been regarded more or less as permanent members. The Textiles Committee discussions showed that to the extent other developed countries had been excluded, they too would urge proper rotation as contemplated in Article 11 of the Arrangement. From the developing countries' point of view, while there was rotation in the membership in effect already, the interests of the vast majority of their membership in the MFA could not be deemed to have been fully provided for. (The proportion of developed to developing countries' membership in the MFA is roughly 1 to 2). Nevertheless, some other participants felt that enlarging the membership would make it difficult not only to find the necessary expertise but to secure the continuous availability of knowledgeable persons to serve on it. The representative of GATT stated that various considerations such as the need to give adequate representation to developing as well as developed countries, and importing as well as exporting countries, had been taken into consideration by the Textiles Committee in deciding upon the size and composition of the Body, and that an enlargement of the Body would not necessarily be useful since Textiles Committee with full representation of all MFA members already existed.
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