Measures to Clause Samples

Measures to safeguard balance of payments2 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 2.7 of this Agreement, the Party in order to safeguard its external financial position and its balance of payments may restrict the quantity or value of merchandise permitted to be imported, subject to the provisions of the following 2The Parties shall make provisions for the utmost secrecy in the conduct of any consultation under the provisions of this Article. paragraphs of this Article. Import restrictions instituted, maintained or intensified by a Party under this Article shall not exceed those necessary: i. to forestall the imminent threat of, or to stop, a serious decline in its monetary reserves, or ii. in the case of a Party with very low monetary reserves, to achieve a reasonable rate of increase in its reserves. Due regard shall be paid in either case to any special factors which may be affecting the reserves of such Party or its need for reserves, including, where special external credits or other resources are available to it, the need to provide for the appropriate use of such credits or resources. 2. The Parties applying restrictions under paragraph 1 of this Article shall progressively relax them as such conditions improve, maintaining them only to the extent that the conditions specified in that paragraph still justify their application. They shall eliminate the restrictions when conditions would no longer justify their institution or maintenance under that paragraph. (a) The Parties undertake, in carrying out their domestic policies, to pay due regard to the need for maintaining or restoring equilibrium in their balance of payments on a sound and lasting basis and to the desirability of avoiding an uneconomic employment of productive resources. They recognize that, in order to achieve these ends, it is desirable so far as possible to adopt measures which expand rather than contract international trade. (b) The Parties applying restrictions under this Article may determine the incidence of the restrictions on imports of different products or classes of products in such a way as to give priority to the importation of those products which are more essential. (c) The Parties applying restrictions under this Article undertake: i. to avoid unnecessary damage to the commercial or economic interests of any other Party3; ii. not to apply restrictions so as to prevent unreasonably the importation of any description of goods in minimum commercial quantities the...