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recommendations to the Members concerned. If these steps fail, and if the Board finds the case to be serious and the complaint to be valid, it may release the complaining Member from obligations assumed toward the other Member under the Charter. Such release must be limited in extent to that required to compensate the complaining Member for its loss of benefit. (Article 94)

If either Member requests, the case must be referred to the Conference for review. The Conference may confirm, modify or reverse the decision of the Executive Board. It may recommend further consultation, arbitration or corrective action, and, in serious cases, it may release the complaining Member, on a compensatory basis, from obligations toward the other Member for concessions granted it. (Article 95)

Decisions of the Conference are subject to review as to le gal aspects by the International Court of Justice by means of a request for an advisory opinion pursuant to the statutes of the Court. (Article 96)

9. AMENDMENTS, WITHDRAWAL AND TERMINATION

( Articles 100-102)

Amendments to the Charter require approval of twothirds of the Conference. Amendments which do not alter the obligations of the Members become effective upon such approval. Amendments which do alter the obligations of Members become effective upon acceptance of two-thirds of the Members, but only for the Members accepting them. Acceptance for the United States would be by Congressional action. The Conference may, in its decision approving an amendment, determine that it is of such a nature that Members which do not accept it within a specified period after it becomes effective shall be suspended from membership in the Organization. The determination of whether an amendment does or does not change the obligations of Members is made by a two-thirds majority of the Conference. Any Member not accepting an amendment of this kind is free to withdraw from the Organization, after the amendment becomes effective, on sixty days' notice. (Article 100)

After five years, the Conference is obligated to carry out a general review of the provisions of the Charter. (Article 101)

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(4)(e), 95 (4)), it is provided that a Member dissatisfied with a decision of the Organization may withdraw upon sixty days' notice. In addition, any Member may withdraw at any time, on six months' notice, after three years from the date on which the Charter enters into force. Charter may be terminated at any time by the agreement of three-fourths of the Members. (Article 102)

The

10. RELATIONS WITH NON-MEMBERS

( Article 98)

It

Nothing in the Charter precludes Members from having economic relations with non-Members. However, the Charter prevents any Member from entering into an arrangement with a non-Member which would give the Member more favorable treatment than the non-Member gives to other Members. prevents members from giving non-Members more favorable treatment than they give to other Members, thereby injuring the economic interests of such other Members. It also makes it clear that Members are not required by the Charter to give non-Members treatment as favorable as that which they give to other Members. (Article 98)

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SUMMARY OF COMMITMENTS AND EXCEPTIONS IN THE CHARTER

There follows a summary of the commitments that will be assumed by the countries that join the ITO and the possible escapes from these commitments that are contained in the Charter.

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I. With respect to the reduction or elimination of restrictive or discriminatory measures imposed on international trade by governments, countries joining the ITO will commit themselves, save where specific exceptions are contained in the Charter or specific exemptions may be granted by the Organization:

(1) to enter into and carry out negotiations directed toward the substantial reduction of tariffs and the elimination of preferences (Art. 17);

(2)

to introduce no new preferences and to increase
no old preferences (Art. 16, 17);

(3) to give effect, at the earliest practicable date,
to common definitions and procedures for deter-
mining the value of imported goods when value is
the base upon which customs duties are levied
(Art. 35);

(4)

to reduce the number and diversity of other customs fees and charges and to limit them, in amount, to the value of services rendered (Art. 36);

(5) to reduce and simplify import and export formalities and documentation requirements (Art. 36);

(6)

(7)

to eliminate unnecessary marking requirements and reduce the burden of complying with such requirements as are retained (Art. 37);

to prevent the use of trade names in such a manner
as to misrepresent the true origin of a product
(Art. 37);

(8) to confine anti-dumping and countervailing duties to cases of actual injury and to limit them, in

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(9)

the bounty or subsidy they are designed to offset
(Art. 34);

to afford freedom of transit to goods moving across their territories (Art. 33);

(10) not to impose on imported goods internal taxes higher than those imposed on like domestic goods (Art. 18);

(11)

(12)

not to impose on the distribution or use of
imported goods laws, regulations or requirements
more onerous than those imposed on the distribu-
tion or use of like domestic goods (Art. 18);

not to impose any new requirement that any specified amount or proportion of any product must be supplied from domestic sources and to include the reduction or elimination of existing mixing requirements in international trade negotiations (Art. 18);

(13) not to discriminate against the distribution or exhibition of imported motion picture films by any means other than requiring that a certain amount of screen time be reserved for the exhibition of domestic films and to include the reduction or elimination of such screen quotas in international trade negotiations (Art. 19);

(14)

(15)

(16)

(17)

(18)

not to allocate imported products affected by
domestic mixing requirements or screen quotas
among foreign sources of supply (Art. 18, 19);
in all these matters, to accord to each other
Member country treatment no less favorable than
that accorded to any third country (Art. 16);

in all cases other than those specifically excepted
by the Charter or exempted through approval by the
ITO, to abandon the use of import or export licenses,
quotas, or other quantitative restrictions (Art. 20);

in those cases and at those times when quantita-
tive restrictions may be used, so to administer
them as to avoid discrimination between other
Member countries (Art. 22);

to join the International Monetary Fund or enter

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into

(19)

into a special exchange agreement with the ITO
(Art. 24);

not to evade the Charter rules on quantitative
restrictions by using exchange controls and not
to evade the Fund's rules on exchange controls
by using quantitative restrictions (Art. 24);

(20) in the case of a state monopoly of export trade,
to enter into and carry out negotiations directed
toward the limitation or reduction of any competi-
tive advantage that may be afforded to domestic
users of the monopolized product and toward assur-
ance that the product will be exported in adequate
quantities at reasonable prices (Art. 31);

(21)

(22)

(23)

(24)

(25)

in the case of a state monopoly of import trade,
to enter into and carry out negotiations directed
toward the limitation or reduction of any competi-
tive advantage that may be afforded to domestic
producers, the relaxation of restrictions on
imports, and the satisfaction of the full domestic
demand for the imported product (Art. 31);

in any state trading operation, to act solely in
accordance with commercial considerations and to
afford the enterprises of other Member countries
adequate opportunity, in accordance with customary
business practice, to compete for participation
in purchases or sales (Art. 29);

to publish, fully and promptly, statistics, laws, regulations, judicial decisions, administrative rulings, and international agreements affecting international trade (Art. 38, 39);

to administer trade regulations uniformly and
impartially, and to afford traders suitable
facilities for consultation with administrative
authorities (Art. 38); and

to maintain or establish independent tribunals
or procedures for the prompt review and correc-
tion of administrative action (Art. 38).

It will be noted that in the main, these are commitments either to do things which the United States is already doing and intends to continue doing, or to refrain from doing things which the United States is not doing and does not desire nor intend to do.

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