India's Import Restrictions on Pneumatic Tyres and Pulses Questioned at WTO
As part of overall efforts to improve transparency, WTO members
advanced work to ensure that import licensing procedures remain simple, straightforward
and predictable. At a meeting of the Committee on Import Licensing Procedures on
8 April 2022, members reviewed 69 notifications, discussed several specific trade
concerns about import licensing regimes, and advanced work on the e-agenda project
for the Committee and on the development and improvement of the import licensing
website and database.
Since
the last Committee meeting in October 2021, the WTO Secretariat had received a total
of 71 notifications under various provisions of the Agreement on Import Licensing
Procedures, 69 of which were listed for the consideration of the Committee.
Regarding
the Annual Questionnaire for 2021, the chair of the Committee, Mr Hsin-lung Hung of Chinese Taipei,
stressed that as of 8 April only 39 members had submitted their replies. The chair
noted that transparency was one of the key pillars of the rules–based multilateral
trading system and encouraged all members to submit their import licensing notifications.
He also
reminded members that they are required to notify their import licensing regulations
and changes to these regulations within 60 days of publication. In addition, all
WTO members are required to submit their replies to the Annual Questionnaire by
30 September.
The delegate
of Ukraine noted that his government was doing everything possible under the present
conditions to ensure that businesses could continue to operate uninterrupted, including
by obtaining import licences through electronic means.
Many members took the floor to express their strong opposition to the conflict in
Ukraine. The Russian delegate responded by saying that the WTO was not the proper
venue for a discussion of a political nature.
The chair
shared with members a report highlighting progress made on transparency as well
as the information sharing work of the WTO Secretariat. He noted that the e-agenda
project, which aims at facilitating the work of delegations in preparing the Committee's
agenda and making relevant documents available in electronic form, was a priority.
The objective
is to launch the e-agenda by the next formal Committee meeting in October 2022.
Some delegations highlighted the value of the e-agenda, which had already been implemented
by other committees, and encouraged the Secretariat to ensure its launch as soon
as possible.
Members
supported the digitalization of notification procedures through an online form that
would be entirely based on the existing notification template contained in document
G/LIC/28. The
form would allow members to notify import licensing legislation to the WTO on a
voluntary basis. It would not eliminate the issuance of N1 and N2 notifications,
which refer to members' laws and regulations on import licensing and changes in
import licensing procedures, respectively.
Following
previous experiences in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, members expressed their support
for holding a workshop on import licensing and notifications for all delegations
which, for the first time, would take place in the three WTO official languages
(English, French and Spanish).
The purpose
of the workshop is to enhance participants' understanding of import licensing procedures
and notifications and to train them in fulfilling the different types of notification
requirements under the Agreement.
Members
asked questions and expressed concerns about some members’ import licensing regimes
for specific products, including:
·
Angola's import licensing requirements, raised
by the European Union
·
China's changes to import licensing
for certain recoverable materials, raised by the United States
·
Egypt's import licensing requirements
for certain agricultural and processed products, raised
by the European Union
·
India's importation
of pneumatic tyres, raised
by the European Union, Indonesia, Chinese Taipei and Thailand
·
Indonesia's compulsory registration
by importers of steel products, raised by Japan
·
Indonesia's import licensing
regime for certain textile products, raised by the European Union
and Japan
·
Indonesia's import restriction
on air conditioners, raised by the European Union and Japan
·
India's quantitative
restrictions on certain pulses, raised by Canada
·
Thailand's importation of feed
wheat, raised by the European Union