The following communication, dated 13 March 1995, has been received from the Permanent Mission of New Zealand.

Attached, as requested in document G/SG/N/1, is a copy of the full and integrated text of New Zealand's legislation applying to safeguard measures, in accordance with Article 12.6 of the Agreement on Safeguards.

New Zealand has no implementing regulations and the administrative procedures relating to safeguard actions are set out in the attached legislation.

This notification is made in accordance with the format for such notifications set out in document¡¡G/SG/N/1.

WTO AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS

Notification of Laws, Regulations and Administrative Procedures

in Accordance with Article 12:6

Legislation

1. Attached is the Temporary Safeguard Authorities Act 1987, which is the full text of New¡¡Zealand's law relating to safeguard measures. The text is fully updated as a result of recent amendments made in order to achieve consistency with the Agreement on Safeguards. The administrative procedures relating to safeguard actions are set out in the Act.

Competent authority

2. The New Zealand legislation empowers the Minister of Commerce to appoint persons as Temporary Safeguard Authorities for a term not exceeding three years. Currently there are two persons appointed as Temporary Safeguard Authorities for a term of one year due to expire on 6 February 1996.


Where it appears to the Minister of Commerce that the importation of any goods has caused or may cause serious injury to a New Zealand industry, the Minister may request the Authority to undertake an inquiry. Normally, the Minister's consideration of whether to request an inquiry is based on an application from an industry.

When undertaking an inquiry the Authority is assisted by the Ministry of Commerce with secretarial and other services as are necessary to enable the Authority to carry out that inquiry.

TEMPORARY SAFEGUARD AUTHORITIES

Analysis

Title

1.Short Title

2.Interpretation

3.Establishment of Authorities

4.Authority to have certain powers of Commission of Inquiry

5.Reference of matters to Authority

6.Matters to be taken into consideration by Authority

7.Report by Authority

8.Remuneration and travelling expenses

9.Money to be appropriated by Parliament for the purposes of this Act

10.Proceedings privileged

11.Consequential amendments

12.Repeals and savings Schedule

1987, No. 88

An Act to Provide for the Appointment of Temporary Safeguard Authorities and

to Define their Functions

[13 June 1987]

BE IT ENACTED by the Parliament of New Zealand as follows:

1. Short Title - This Act may be cited as the Temporary Safeguard Authorities Act 1987.

[2. Interpretation - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Authority" means a Temporary Safeguard Authority established under Section 3 of this Act:

"Directly competitive goods" in relation to any goods, means goods that, as a matter of fact and commercial common sense, are substitutable for imported goods:

"Duty" has the same meaning as in Section 2 of the Tariff Act 1988:

"Industry", in relation to any goods, means:

(a) The New Zealand producers of like goods and directly competitive goods; or

(b)such New Zealand producers of like goods or directly competitive goods whose collective output constitutes a major proportion of the New Zealand production of like goods.

"Like goods", in relation to any goods, means:

(a) Other goods that are like those goods in all respects; or

(b)in the absence of goods referred to in paragraph (a) of this definition, goods which have characteristics closely resembling those goods.

"Minister" means the Minister of [Commerce]:

"Rate of duty" has the same meaning as in Section 2 of the Tariff Act 1988:

"Serious injury" means significant overall impairment to the economic viability of a domestic industry:

"Tariff" has the same meaning as in Section 2 of the Tariff Act 1988:

"Working day", means any day of the week other than:

(a)Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Labour Day, the Sovereign's birthday, and Waitangi Day; and

(b)a day in the period commencing with the 25th day of December in any year and ending with the 2nd day of January in the following year; and

(c)if the 1st day of January falls on a Friday, the following Monday; and

(d)if the 1st day of January falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, the following Monday and Tuesday.

"WTO Agreement" means the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization adopted at Marrakesh on the 15th day of April 1994.]

3. Establishment of authorities

(1) The Minister may from time to time appoint such persons as the Minister thinks fit to be Temporary Safeguard Authorities for the purposes of this Act.

(2) Any person appointed as an Authority or as a member of an Authority shall be appointed for such term, not exceeding three years, as may be specified in the instrument of appointment of that Authority, and may from time to time be reappointed, or may at any time be removed from office by the Minister for disability, bankruptcy, neglect of duty, or misconduct, proved to the satisfaction of the Minister, or may at any time resign the office by writing addressed to the Minister.

(3) No person appointed under this section shall exercise any functions of an Authority in respect of any matter in which that person has, directly or indirectly, any pecuniary interest apart from any interest in common with the public.

(4) No person shall be deemed to be employed in the service of the Crown for the purposes of the State Services Act 1962 or the Government Superannuation Fund Act 1956 by reason only of that person being an Authority or a member of an Authority.

(5) The [Ministry of Commerce] shall be responsible for ensuring that each Temporary Safeguard Authority is provided, whether by secondment or otherwise, with such secretarial and other services as are necessary to enable the Authority to carry out any inquiry under this Act and to report as efficiently and expeditiously as possible.

4. Authority to have certain powers of Commission of Inquiry - For the purposes of an inquiry pursuant to Section 5(1) of this Act, Sections 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908 shall apply to every Authority as if it were a Commission of Inquiry established under that Act.

5. Reference of matters to Authority

(1) Where it appears to the Minister that the importation of any goods has caused or may cause [serious] injury to an industry, the Minister may request an Authority to undertake an inquiry in relation to the importation of the goods and to report on the following matters:

(a)Whether the industry has suffered or is likely to suffer [serious] injury as a result of the importation of the goods having regard to the matters set out in Section 6 of this Act; and

(b)if the industry has suffered or is likely to suffer such injury:

(i)Whether urgent action is necessary to protect the industry in relation to the importation of the goods; and

(ii)if such action is considered necessary, the nature of the protection that is considered by the Authority to be appropriate in all the circumstances, and the extent and duration of such protection.

(2) The Minister shall cause every request made to an Authority under Subsection (1) of this Section to be published in the Gazette as soon as practicable after making it, and shall lay a copy of it before the House of Representatives.

(3) Subject to Section 3(3) of this Act, on receipt of the request the Authority shall forthwith undertake the inquiry.

(4) The Authority shall, in such manner as it thinks fit, call for submissions from persons having an interest in the matters that are the subject of the inquiry and may specify a date by which any submissions must be received by the Authority.

(5) The Authority shall, in the course of the inquiry, consider any submissions received in response to a call for submissions made pursuant to Subsection (4) of this Section.

[(6) Unless information is confidential or may be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982, persons having an interest in the matters that are the subject of the inquiry shall have access to all information relevant to the inquiry.

(7) Where a person has submitted information to the Authority, and has shown good cause for the Authority to believe:

¡(a)That the information would be significant competitive advantage to a competitor of, or disclosure of the information would have a significantly adverse effect upon:

(i)The person who submitted the information; or

(ii)the person from whom the information was acquired by the person who submitted the information; or

(iii)any person to whom the information relates; or

(b)that the information should otherwise be treated as confidential, the Authority shall not disclose that information, whether in a report under Section 7 of this Act or otherwise, without the specific permission of any such person that would be adversely affected by its release.


(8) The Authority may request persons who have submitted confidential information to provide:

(a)A non-confidential summary of the information; or

(b)if it is claimed that the information is not susceptible of such a summary, a statement of the reasons why such a summary cannot be provided; and

the authority may disregard any information in respect of which the person submitting it fails to provide either a satisfactory summary or satisfactory reasons why such a summary cannot be provided.]

[6. Matters to be taken into consideration by Authority

(1) In determining for the purposes of Section 5(1)(a) of this Act whether an industry has suffered or is likely to suffer serious injury as a result of the importation of goods, the Authority shall (without limiting the matters it may consider) evaluate the following matters:

(a)The rate and amount of the increase in the volume and value of imports of the goods, in absolute and relative terms;

(b)the economic impact of the increased importation of the goods on the industry, including actual and potential decline in output, sales, market share, profits, productivity, employment and utilization of production capacity;

(c)factors other than the imports which have injured, or are injuring, the industry;

(d)the nature and extent of importations of the goods, including the value, quantity, frequency and purpose of the importation, by New Zealand producers of like or directly competitive goods.

(2) The Minister may cause a statement of Government policy (which may include policies relating to international obligations) to be transmitted to the Authority, and shall publish that statement in the Gazette as soon as practicable after transmitting it to the Authority.

(3) The Authority shall take into account any statement transmitted to it under Subsection (2) of this Section in its report to the Minister under Section 7 of this Act.]

[7. Report by Authority

(1) An Authority which undertakes an inquiry under Section 5 of this Act shall as soon as practicable, but not later than 30 working days after the date on which it received the request for the inquiry, report to the Minister on the matters that are the subject of the inquiry.

(2) An Authority may report to the Minister that urgent action is necessary in relation to the importation of goods only if it is satisfied, having regard to the matters set out in Section 6(1) of this Act, that:

(a)The importation of the goods is causing or will cause serious injury to the industry; and

(b)the serious injury is not attributable to factors other than the importation of the goods; and

(c)it is not practicable for the industry to reduce the injury resulting from the importation by other measures of adjustment to such extent that urgent action would be unnecessary.

(3) If the Authority reports that urgent action is necessary to protect the industry from serious injury in relation to the importation of the goods, it may recommend that any or all of the following measures be taken, if such measures are not incompatible with New Zealand's obligations as a party to the WTO Agreement:

(a)The imposition of any duty, or variation of any rate of duty or exemption from any duty;

(b)the restriction of the importation of the goods under the Customs Act 1966 or the Import Control 1988;

(c)any other action it considers appropriate.

(4) In making any recommendation the Authority shall also report what should be the rate, extent and duration of any measures recommended by the Authority, as long as such rate, extent and duration are not incompatible with New Zealand's obligations as a party to the WTO Agreement.

(5) The Authority shall, as soon as practicable after making its report to the Minister, cause the report to be published.]

8. Remuneration and travelling expenses

(1) Every Authority established under this Act is hereby declared to be a Statutory Board within the meaning of the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951.

(2) There shall be paid to members of Authorities remuneration by way of fees, salary or allowances and travelling allowances and expenses in accordance with the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act¡¡1951, and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.

9. Money to be appropriated by Parliament for the purposes of this Act. All fees, salaries, allowances and other expenditure payable or incurred under or in the administration of this Act shall be payable out of money to be appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.

10. Proceedings privileged

(1) No proceedings, civil or criminal, shall lie against an Authority for anything it may do/fail to do in the course of the exercise or intended exercise of functions, unless it is shown that the Authority acted without reasonable care or in bad faith.

(2) No proceedings, civil or criminal, shall lie against any person who is an Authority, or any officer of an Authority, for anything that person may do or say or fail to do or say in the course of the operations of the Authority, unless it is shown that that person acted in bad faith.

11. Consequential amendments - The Official Information Act 1982 is hereby consequentially amended by omitting from the First Schedule the following items:

"The Emergency Protection Authorities appointed for the purposes of the Industries Development Commission Act 1961";

"The Industries Development Commission";

and inserting, in its appropriate alphabetical order, the following item:

"Temporary Safeguard Authorities appointed under the Temporary Safeguard Authorities Act 1987".

12. Repeals and savings

(1) The enactments set out in the Schedule to this Act are herby repealed.

(2) The provisions of Section 10A to 10E of the Industries Development Commission Act 1961 shall, notwithstanding the repeal of that Act by Subsection (1) of this Section, for the purposes of the completion of any inquiry undertaken by an Emergency Protection Authority before the commencement of this Act, continue to apply as if Subsection (1) of this Section had not been enacted.


SCHEDULE

Enactments Repealed


1961, No. 123 - The Industries Development Commission Act 1961

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2039).

1964, No. 113 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1964

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2054).

1965, No. 31 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1965

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2054).

1967, No. 52 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1967

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2055).

1970, No. 37 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1970

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2056).

1971, No. 136 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1971

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2056).

1975, No. 33 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1975

(Reprinted 1975, Vol. 3, p. 2057).

1979, No. 55 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1979.

1982, No. 80 - The Industries Development Commission Amendment Act 1982.

This Act is administered in the [Ministry of Commerce].