FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1950, VOLUME I


deferring such a survey no longer obtain and that current world con-
ditions render a study of export restrictions especially appropriate.
if strong pressure exists to defer the problem further, United States
should suggest that the Secretariat submit a proposed program of
study, including any necessary questionnaires, for consideration at the
Sixth Session.
                            DISCUSSION
  At the Fourth Session of the Contracting Parties at Geneva, the
Contracting Parties unanimously agreed that it would be desirable to
obtain more systematic and comprehensive information on the subject
of quantitative restrictions on exports which were being maintained
under the provisions of Articles XI to XX inclusive of the GATT;
the question of how land when these additional data should be obtained
was held in abeyance. This agreement represented a compromise with
an original United States-Canadian proposal to instruct the Secre-
tariat to proceed forthwith to collect comprehensive data on existing
export restrictions. Virtually all the other contracting parties who
expressed an opinion on the subject took the view that the Secretariat
was much too overburdened to undertake such a task in the early fu-
ture. It was clear, of course, that the desire on the part of most of the
contracting parties to put off a study was not based upon a concern
with overburdening the Secretariat but with a reluctance to pursue
further a subject which might constitute a source of embarrassment to
some of them.-.
  As matters now stand, it appears that the Secretariat will be work-
ing at full capacity until the spring of 1951;, the first -few months of
1951 will almost certainly be taken up withtariff negotiations, while,
in the months f0ollowing, some of the staff will be taken up with the
compilation of questionnaire returns and preparation of a report on
balance-of-payments import restrictions. Accordingly, the justification
for putting off the study on the basis of the Secretariat's workload
will diminish toward the close of the spring of 1951.
  Apart from the prospective work load of the Secretariat and the
attitude of the other contracting parties, however, some definite ad-
vantages appear to exist in raising the issue at the Fifth Session. At
the outbreak of the Korean affair, export restrictions were at the lowest
point since the war's end. But because of shortages which are likely
to attend a rearmaments effort, measures of this sort have.begun,-to
reappear in substantial number, Some of these have been unilateral
measures by individual countries, while others are being taken on
a multilateral basis. The United States is participating in some of
these measures but is not involved in a good many others.


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