Nov 24, 1984

NOTIFICATION REQUESTS ON HAZARDOUS PRODUCTS IGNORED.

GENEVA, NOVEMBER 22 (IFDA/BY CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) -- Efforts in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to get Industrial countries to notify the hazardous products that they allow to be exported, while prohibiting their sale on their own domestic markets, have so far yielded no results. -

Third World countries have been calling for international regulatory actions to deal with exports of dangerous drugs, pesticides, etc., whose sales Industrial countries prohibit on their own domestic markets on grounds of health or safety, but permit their enterprises to export and dump on the Third World. -

Often Third World governments or authorities do not even know that the goods being imported are prohibited for health or safety reasons in the exporting countries and/or the grounds for such prohibitions.-

Under pressure from their transnational corporations, Industrial countries have resisted any actions in this area. The Carter administration in the U.S. took some national actions for notifications, but the Reagan Administration quickly reversed it.-

As part of the compromise package that emerged in the 1982 GATT Ministerial declaration, the notification procedures were provided.-

The 1982 declaration decided that all Contracting Parties "shall to the maximum feasible extent, notify GATT of any goods produced and exported by them but banned by their national authorities for sale on their domestic markets on grounds of human health and safety".-

The Contracting Parties, at their meeting in 1984, were asked by the Ministers to consider on the basis of the experience of the notification procedure, the need for study of the problem relevant to GATT in the export of domestically prohibited goods and any appropriate actions to deal with such problems.-

A spokesman of GATT confirmed Thursday that there had been "very few replies" to the call for notifications, and that there had been "no returns whatsoever" in the replies received.-

The replies received from the few countries that had responded have said they had no goods prohibited for domestic sale that are exported, the spokesman clarified.-

This would appear to mean that while a few countries that are not involved in this trade have responded to the general request for notification by saying that they did not export domestically prohibited goods, the countries where such practices prevail have not responded at all.-

The issue itself disappeared from the "GATT agenda" without any explanation, Third World countries have complained.-

When the GATT Council met on November 6, for a review of the GATT work programme and report to the Contracting Parties, the hazardous products issue did not even figure in the formal agenda of the Council.-

The subject was brought up before the GATT Council at its meeting on November 20, and the Council decided to issue another call to CPs about their obligation to notify under the Ministerial declaration and asking them to provide more open and comprehensive information in their notifications on the subject.-