FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1950, VOLUME I


quantitative restrictions on exports maintained by contracting parties
under various provisions of Articles XI-XX and that this might
receive the early attention of the Contracting Parties. At the fourth
meeting of the Fifth Session, the Contracting Parties decided, in
principle, that information relating to the application of export re-
strictions should be obtained, and the Secretariat was asked to supply
a more detailed proposal. (Ref. GATT/CP.5/3 and SR.4.1)
   A number of representatives who participated in the discussion
on 4th November did not favour an enquiry if it would involve con-
tracting parties in answering a lengthy questionnaire. Accordingly,
it is proposed that the Contracting Parties might authorize the Execu-
tive Secretary to invite contracting parties to submit statements on
the restrictive measures which they apply to exports, naming the
products restricted and describing the method of restriction, to-
gether with a note of the circumstances which gave rise to the applica-
tion of each measure.
   Contracting parties might be asked to submit their statements not
later than April 30, 1951, and the Executive Secretary might be
authorized to prepare a memorandum, on 'the basis of the statements
received for submission to the Sixth Session.2

  In the Department of State files, these GATT documents are located in Lot
57D284, Box 111. The fourth meeting of the Fifth Session of the OP's occurred
on
November 4, and Doe. GATT/CP.5/SR.4 incorporates the minutes of that meet-
ing. Doc. GATT/CP.5/3, dated November 3, 1950, is a previous "Note by
the
Executive Secretary" on this item, prepared as a Working Paper for the
Novem-
ber 4 meeting. A valuable reference source enumerating the documentation
of the
Contracting Parties' Fifth Session is found in Doc. GATT/CP/INF/6, 10 January
1951, "Fifth Session List of Documents Issued from 3 August 1950 to
20 Decem-
ber 1950," located in Lot 57D284, Box 111, Binder captioned "Index
5th Sess &
3d TN's."
  2 The Contracting Parties took final action on this item at their 25th
meeting
on December 16, and the final consensus, in the words of the Chairman was,
that "..... the sending of laws and decrees by Governments would be
optional
and the Secretariat should simply ask that information be sent in as complete
a form as possible." (Doe. GATT/CP.5/SR.25, Lot 57'D284, Box 111) The
item
was described as follows in the "Report to the Secretary of State"
by the Chair-
man of the United States Delegation: "Agenda Item 10: Consideration
of a
Review of Quantitative Export Restrictions .... At the Fifth Session the
Con-
tracting Parties authorized the Executive Secretary to invite the Contracting
Parties to submit statements on the restrictive measures which they apply
to exports, naming the products restricted and describing the method of restric-
tion in as complete a form as possible. It was agreed to consider these statements
at the Sixth Session." (Lot 57D284, Box 112, "Misc. Reports")


720