RESTRICTED

16 April 1957

CONSULTATION UNDER ARTICLE XII;4(b) WITH

THE KINGDOM OF TES NETHERLANDS

Draft Basic Document Prepared by the Secretariat

I. SYSTEM AND METHODS OF THE RESTRICTIONS

(a) Legal Basis of the Restrictions

The Netherlands import control system is based on the Import and Export

Regulation Decree of 1944 (Besluit Regeling In- en Uitvoer) authorises the

Minister of Trade, Industry and Agriculture, in consultation with the Minister

of Finance to prohibit, restrict or regulate the importation of specific goods.

By the Import and Export Prohibition Order of 1945 (In- en Uitvoerverboden

beschikking - Staatscourant 1945, 7 and 100) the Minister, exercising the

powers conferred upon him by the Import and Export Regulation Deoree, subjected

all imports to licensing requirement.

(b) Administrative Basis of the Restriction

The Central Import and Export Agency (Centrale Dienst voor In- en

Uitvoer), which is part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, is in charge

of import controls. It receives directives regarding import licensing

policy from the Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations which has

the function of co-ordinating the policies of the Ministries concerned. The

Central Agency has delegated its licensing authority to certain "Bureaux"

(Rijksbureaux) for a substantial number of industrial products and to certain

"Boards" (Bedrijfschappen) for most agricultural products. These bodies, which

are supervised by the Central Agency, are also in permanent contact with

industrial and agricultural producer and trader associations. Imports of

silver, gold and platinum, crude or processed and most works thereof are

licensed by the Netherlands Bank (National Bank).

The Central Service, the Bureaux and Boards are. authorized by the

Netherlands Bank to issue foreign exchange permits which are incorporated

in the import licence. The Netherlands Bank itself issues the exchange

permits only when it is itself the licensing authority for imports,

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(c) Methods used in Restricting Imports

The system involves the following provisions for free imports and

methods of restriction;

A. The free list for countries belonging to the Belgian currency area.

B. The free list for the OEJC area and other specified countries.

C. The liberalization list for the dollar area.

D. Bilateral trade agreements and private compensation arrangements.

E. Unilateral quotas.

F. Prohibition of imports.

A. Nearly all imports from Belgium, Luxemburg, the Belgian Congo and Ruanda #»

Urundi are freed. Under the Agricultural Protocols of 1947 and 1950 a limited

number of products are subject to special regulations in the intra-Benelux

trade as a result of divergencies in the agricultural policies of the three

partner countries. This special regime applies to wheat, sugar, grain seeds

and cut flowers.

B. There is a free list for the member countries' of the OEEO and associated

territories, Egypt, Indonesia, New Guinea, Surinam and the Netherlands

Antilles. The goods contained in this list may be imported without restriction

and are exempted from licensing requirement. Some imports are subject to the

notification procedure under which the importer is required to submit an

import declaration to the Central Import and Export Agency prior to the arrivr

of the goods. For a miscellaneous range of imports from the countries settling

payments through the EPU, except Indonesia and Turkey, and from Dutch overseas

territories no prior notification is required»

C. • A liberalization list for the dollar area was made effective in October

1953. 6n 1 June 1954 the Benelux countries introduced a common dollar

liberalization list. Imports specified in this list are subject to automatic

licensing.

e dollar area comprises Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador. Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, XL Salvador, the United States of America and United States dependencies, and Venezuela.

Th

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j) For certain imports still subject to quantitative restrictions, quotas

are established under bilateral trade agreements. The quota fixed in these

agreements represent minimum licensing commitments.

E, • For imports from countries, with which no trade agreements are in force

and which do not benefit from a liberalization, or free, list, licences are

issued in accordance with quotas established unilaterally.

F. Certain imports which are subject to sanitary and veterinary controls

are prohibited if they do not conform-to-certain standards.

Substantially all imports are covereâ>by the free lists or the

liberalization list» As a rule, imports of non-liberalized products require

combined import and exchange- licences-,' > Imports- of- a- value not exceeding

200 guilders are exempt from licensing requirement.

With regard to non-liberalized products the Government of the Kingdom of

the Netherlands maintains permanent contact with the authorities of the

Belgium-Luxemburg Economic Union with a view to harmonising the" import

policy^ ' " " - • - --•

(d) Categories of Goods Affected" ' '"'•"

The most important products which are not specified on the 0EE0 free

list are: wheat, wheat flour and husked rice, sugary non-seed potatoes,

butter and margarine, fresh or chilled beef and pork, cattle and pigs,

unsweetened condensed milk, eggs, most fresh fruit and vegetables. The list

of products still subject to quantitative restrictions when imported from

the dollar area contains several food products such as bacon, ham, salted

pork, meal and flour of wheat and spelt, dried fruits, margarine, shortenings,,

certain pharmaceutics, nitrogenous fertilizers^ some types of plastic materi»1"

and motor vehicles.

A complete list of imports subject to restrictions for balance-of-

payments reasons is given in Annex Ic

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(e) P ropor t ion of Imports Covered by Bach Method Used

. . .(Further in format ion , inc lud ing the t ype t h a t may be i n s e r t e d in t h e

fo l lowing t a b l e , t o be inc luded a f t e r discussion.)

• • • Breakdown of Imports according t o Licensing Category

(In m i l l i o n s of d o l l a r or g u i l d e r s and percentage of t o t a l imports)

Import t r a d e of y e a r : 1954 1955 1956

1 . L icence- f ree imports

(Belgian monetary area and OEEC free list)

2. Imports under dollar liberalization list

3. Imports under bilateral trade agr3ements

4 . Other imports . . . ; . . .

TOTAL:

(f) Treatment of Imports from Different Countries or Currency Areas

Somewhat different import control regimes apply to (i) the Belgian

monetary area, (ii) the OEEC countries and their associated areas, Egypt,

Indonesia, New Guinea, Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles, (iii) the dollar

.area and (iv) the rest of the world:

t (i) Nearly all imports from the Belgian monetary area are freed, and

no licences are required. Further, products liberalized vis-à-

vis third countries can move freely, between the three Benelux

countries,

(ii) Imports from the countries to which the OEEC free list applies

have been liberalized to the extent of 95.6 per cent of private

imports from OEEC countries in 1955. Imports of goods not

specified in this list are as a rule governed by bilateral trade

agreements: Trade quota agreements are in force with all the

OEdC countries except Iceland and Ireland . These trade agreements

VJith Denmark, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom joint Benelux agreements have been signed.

Spec/37/57 Page 5

with OEEO countries cover only a small proportion of total

imports from that area,

(iii) The dollar liberalization list covers 87 per cent of private

imports from the United States and Canada in 1953. For some

products not on the dollar free list licences are issued

liberally. All products liberalized vis-à-vis the dollar

area, are on the OEEO free list.

(iv) Imports from countries to which no liberalization or free list

applies are still formally restricted but licences are granted

within the limits of quotas negotiated under bilateral trade

agreements or established unilaterally. Quota agreements are

maintained with Israel, Japan, Finland-*-, Spain, Switzerland and

Yugoslavia, and with all the countries in Eastern Europe except

Albania and Rumania. Trade with Bulgaria and Rumania is conducted

only in the form of private barter.

(g) Use of State-Trading or Governmental Monopoly in Imports and the Restrictive Operation of Such Regimes

In the course of 1955 stats trading was completely abolished in the

Netherlands.

(h) Measures Taken in Preceding years to Relax Restrictions

Chronoligically the changes since 1 January 1954, were as follows:

1 June 1954

The l i be r a l i z a t i on l i s t for the dol la r area was considerably enlarged, and

became the same as tha t of the Belgium-Luxemburg Economic Union. Except

for a few items, the new dol lar l i s t includes the commodities specified

in the common Benelux OKIG free l i s t . I

1 January 1955

Imports of all types of cheese from OESC countries were freed from

quantitative restriction.

9 March 1955

The notification procedure (meldingsprocedure) which only applied to

transactions not exceeding 10,000 guilders was extended to most

liberalized imports irrespective of the value of the consignment. In 1956, with the extension of liberalization treatment to Finland, the Nethorlands delotd its import quota list from the agreement with that country

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Simultaneously, its field of application was extended to cover imports

from practically the whole EHJ area. The credit and advance payment

terms generally permitted for import transaction.3 subject to the

notification procedure were extended from four months to six months.

For imports with terms exceeding six months, licences would be issued

by the Central Import and Export Agency.

1 July 1956

A further administrative simplification came into effect with the

abolition of the notification procedure for all imports from the

countries clearing through the EHJ, except Indonesia and Turkey.

The notification procedure was introduced for imports from the EHJ

area of certain agricultural products,

1 September 1956

The notification procedure was extended to apply to products in the

cattle, meat, fish, vegetables, fats and oils sectors»

II. EFFECTS ON TRADE

(a) Protective effects of the restrictions on domestic production

(b) Difficulties or-hardships that may be expected upon relaxation

or elimination of the restrictions

(c) Steps taken to reduce incidental protective effects of the

restrictions

(d) Steps taken to minimize difficulties of transition to the stage

where balance-of-payments restrictions may be eliminated

(e) Steps taken to avoid unnecessary damage in accordance with

Article XII:3(c)(iii)

(The whole of Section II is to be.drawn up after the

discussions in the Hague.)

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ANN5XES

List of Imports subject to Restr ic t ion for balance-of-payments

reasons (already supplied by the Netherlands Government, t o be

a t tached) .

Statement by the Netherlands Government on the Balance-of-Payments

Import Restr ict ions in the Netherlands (text supplied by the Government

to be at tached.)

(Other annexes may be added as necessary.)