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29 May 2002 (02-2930) Textiles Monitoring Body Original: English

AGREEMENT ON TEXTILES AND CLOTHING

Notification under Article 2.
Permanent Mission of the United States
to the World Trade Organization
Geneva

13 May 2002

The Honorable András Szepesi
Chairman
Textiles Monitoring Body
World Trade Organization
Rue de Lausanne 154
1211 Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland

Dear Mr.
" The claim made by the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China concerning the retroactive application of WTO benefits to a period of time when China was not a Member of the WTO is in contradiction to the relevant language of the Working Party report.
These base levels, and the associated growth rates and flexibility provisions, reflect a negotiated balance of mutual concessions acceptable to the People’s Republic of China and the United States and will henceforth be governed by the provisions of the ATC.
practice is to adjust group and specific limits affected by partial integration by reducing them by the average amount of volume trade in the integrated product for the previous two calendar years, specifically, 1999 and 2000 in this instance.
A reduction was made the Group I limit as a result of product integration, in order to reflect the more limited product coverage.
The United States has provided data detailing the specific calculations for the reduction to the Group I limit, including with respect to category 239, to China in the consultations noted above, and to the TMB under separate cover.