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12. Item 5: definitive application of the general agreement
The EEC (Loeff) introduced their document, CG 18/W/20, and noted that they were surprised the GATT was still provisionally applied. They thought it might be advisable to try to get definitive application of the GATT at the end of the current MTN round. They were supported by Japan (Motono) who agreed this was the most opportune time to seek definitive application, and by Argentina, Brazil and Hungary. Switzerland (Dunkel) thought that the GATT Secretariat should produce a document on what provisional status really meant. They were unsure of the necessity for full applic- ation; a number of codes under discussion in the MTN would have the same effect, for example. The US (W. Kelly) agreed that defini- tive application would have a positive psychological effect - in the same way that an ambitious MTN programme would have a positive psychological effect, though the latter would probably bring a greater response. They supported the Commission proposal with some reservations because of their existing legislation. They hoped that some of the subject matter could be satisfactorily dealt with in the MTN so that all their reservations could disappear but they considered that the GATT should also look at practices maintained for 30 years or introduced subsequently which were in contravention of the GATT and not covered by the Protocol of Provisional Applica- tion. They suggested that the Contracting Parties should each identify the measures and notify them in a self-accusation procedure.
BOTTOMLEY
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