2. For the purposes of this Article, a product is to be considered as being introduced into the commerce of an importing Member State at less than its normal value, if the price of the product exported from one Member State to another:
(a) is less than the comparable price in the ordinary course of trade, for the like product when destined for consumption in the exporting Member State; or
(b) in the absence of such domestic prices, is less than either:
(i) the highest comparable price for the like product for export to any third country in the ordinary course of trade; or
(ii) the cost of production of the product in the country of origin plus a reasonable addition for selling cost and profit: Provided that due allowance shall be made in each case for differences in conditions and terms of sale, for differences in taxation and for other differences affecting price comparability.
3. A Member State may, for the purposes of offsetting or preventing dumping, and subject to the provision of paragraph 4 of this Article, levy on any dumped product an anti-dumping duty not greater in amount than the margin of dumping in respect of such product. For the purposes of this Article, the margin of dumping is the price difference determined in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 (b) (ii) of this Article.
4. No Member State shall levy any anti-dumping duty on the importation of any product of another Member State unless it is determined that the effect of the alleged dumping is such as to cause or threaten material injury to an established domestic industry or such as to retard materially the establishment of a domestic industry.
5. Dumping from a third country into a Member State shall be prohibited and any affected Member State may, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article, levy an anti-dumping duty on any dumped products. 6. Proceedings initiated pursuant to the provisions of this Article shall be carried out in accordance with anti-dumping regulations made by the Council.
Article 52. Subsidies Granted by Member States
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Treaty, any subsidy granted by a Member State or through state resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between the Member States, be incompatible with the Common Market.
2. A Member State may, for the purposes of offsetting the effects of subsidies and subject to regulations made by the Council, levy countervailing duty on any product of any Member State imported into another Member State equal to the amount of the estimated subsidy determined to have been granted directly or indirectly, on the manufacture, production or export of such product in the country of origin or exportation.
3. Except as otherwise provided in this Treaty, any subsidy granted by a third country or through state resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall, in so far as it affects trade between the Member States and the third country, be incompatible with the Common Market.
4. A Member State may, for the purposes of offsetting the effects of subsidies and subject to regulations made by the Council, levy a countervailing duty on any product of any third country imported into another Member State equal to the amount of the estimated subsidy determined to have been granted directly or indirectly, on the manufacture, production or export of such product in the country of origin or exportation.
Article 53. Exceptions to Levying of Countervailing Duty
No Member State shall levy a countervailing duty on the importation of any product of the territory of another Member State unless it determines that the effect of the subsidisation is such as to cause or threaten material injury to an established domestic industry or is such as to materially retard the establishment of a domestic industry.
Article 54. Co-operation In the Investigation of Dumping and Subsidies
1. The Member States shall co-operate in the detection and investigation of dumping and subsidy practices and in imposing agreed measures to curb such practises. 2. Where there is evidence of dumping or export of subsidised goods by a third country to the territory of a Member State that threatens or distorts competition in the Common Market, the affected Member States may request the Member State in whose territory the goods are being dumped or exported to impose anti-dumping duties or countervailing duties on those goods from the third country.
Article 55. Competition
1. The Member States agree that any practice which negates the objective of free and liberalised trade shall be prohibited. To this end, the Member States agree to prohibit any agreement between undertakings or concerted practice which has as its objective or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the Common Market.
2. The Council may declare the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article inapplicable in the case of:
(a) any agreement or category thereof between undertakings;
(b) any decision by association of undertakings;
(c) any concerted practice or category thereof; which improves production or distribution of goods or promotes technical or economic progress and has the effect of enabling consumers a fair share of the benefits: Provided that the agreement, decision or practice does not impose on the undertaking restrictions inconsistent with the attainment of the objectives of this Treaty or has the effect of eliminating competition.
3. The Council shall make regulations to regulate competition within the Member States.
Article 56. Most Favoured Nation Treatment
1. The Member States shall accord to one another the most favoured nation treatment.
2. Nothing in this Treaty shall prevent a Member State from maintaining or entering into new preferential agreements with third countries provided such agreements do not impede or frustrate the objectives of this Treaty and that any advantage, concession, privilege and favour granted to a third country under such agreements are extended to the Member States on a reciprocal basis.
3. Nothing in this Treaty shall prevent two or more Member States from entering into new preferential agreements among themselves which aim at achieving the objectives of the Common Market, provided that any preferential treatment accorded under such agreements is extended to the other Member States on a reciprocal and non-discriminatory basis.
4. Copies of agreements concluded pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General by the Member States parties to them.
Article 57. National Treatment
The Member States shall refrain from enacting legislation or applying administrative measures which directly or indirectly discriminate against the same or like products of other Member States.
Article 58. Customs Administration
The Member States shall apply the provisions of Chapter Nine of this Treaty in order to simplify, harmonize and standardize their customs regulations, procedures and documents to ensure the effective application of the provisions of this Chapter and to reduce the costs of and facilitate the speedy movement of goods and services across their frontiers.
Article 59. Drawback
The Member States may, at the end of the ten years specified in Article 45 of this Treaty, refuse to accept as eligible for Common Market tariff treatment goods in relation to which drawback is claimed or made use of in connection with their exportation from the Member States in the territory of which the goods have undergone the last process of production.
Article 60. Remedy for Loss of Revenue
1. The Council shall, on the recommendation of the Intergovernmental Committee, determine what remedial steps shall be taken with respect to a Member State which has suffered substantial loss of revenue from import duties as a result of the application of this Chapter.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Member States shall conclude a Protocol which shall, inter-alia, determine the machinery and formula to be used in carrying out the remedial steps with respect to a Member State which has suffered substantial loss of revenue from import duties as a result of the application of this Chapter.
Article 61. Safeguard Clause
1. In the event of serious disturbances occurring in the economy of a Member State following the application of the provisions of this Chapter, the Member State concerned shall, after informing the Secretary-General and the other Member States, take necessary safeguard measures.
2. Safeguard measures taken under the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, shall remain in force for a period of one year and may be extended by the decision of the Council provided that the Member State concerned shall furnish to the Council proof that it has taken the necessary and reasonable steps to overcome or correct imbalances for which safeguard measures are being applied and that the measures applied are on the basis of non-discrimination.
3. The Council shall examine the method and effect of the application of existing safeguard measures and take a decision thereon.
Article 62. Trade Promotion
The Member States shall adopt measures designed to promote trade within the Common Market. In this regard, Member States shall:
(a) ensure the development and dissemination of market intelligence and trade information with a view to providing the widest possible knowledge-base of intra-Common Market trade opportunities and encourage the development of exports and markets to meet the public and private procurement needs;
(b) actively encourage the undertaking of supply and demand surveys, the organisation of buyers and sellers meetings and other multi-country contact promotion events in order to further identify and exploit the potential of intra-Common Market trade;
(c) undertake the removal of measures that have been identified during the market surveys, which restrict the flow of goods and services to their identified markets, including the establishment of agency offices, trade missions, free movement of samples and advertising;
(d) identify the possibilities of product adaptation and diversification to broaden their respective export base with a view to expanding or introducing products to new markets in the Member States;
(e) review and initiate programmes for the rationalisation and improvement of import operations and techniques to ensure that savings will accrue from such rationalisation of purchase operations;
(f) seek to ensure that donor-funded import procurement programmes allow as far as possible for the purchase of goods from other Member States;
(g) organise frequent general and specialised trade fairs;
(h) improve the performance of small-and-medium scale enterprises for export development such as marketing, business management and the provision of credits;
(i) promote export-oriented joint ventures, by encouraging and facilitating enterprise-toenterprise contacts;
(j) support privatisation endeavours through the introduction of trade services or improvement of the trade promotion infrastructure to meet the special requirements of privatised companies; and
(k) encourage the improvement of services relating to trade such as export financing, quality control and standardisation, packaging and specification aspects, warehousing and storage operations, and others that will increase the flow of goods within the Member States.
Chapter Seven. Common Market Customs Co-operation
Article 63. Scope of Customs Co-operation
1. The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to any activity being undertaken in co-operation among the Member States in the field of customs management and the organization of customs and shall include in particular:
(a) matters concerning the application of Common Market tariff treatment for their exports and imports;
(b) the simplification and harmonization of trade documents, customs regulations and procedures with particular reference to such matters as the valuation of goods, tariff classification, temporary admission, warehousing, re-exports, frontier trade and export drawback;
(c) the prevention, investigation and suppression of customs offences;
(d) national and joint institutional arrangements; and
(e) training facilities and programmes for customs officials.
2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not affect the gradual establishment of a common external tariff in respect of goods imported into the Member States from third countries.
Article 64. Common Market Tariff Treatment
1. The Member States undertake to co-operate in the implementation of the provisions of this Treaty concerning the treatment of goods eligible for Common Market tariff treatment and more particularly those relating to:
(a) the evolution of uniform national customs legislation and procedures;
(b) the reduction and eventual elimination of import duties and non-tariff barriers on trade among themselves;
(c) the establishment of a common external tariff; and
(d) any other aspect of customs law and practice concerning Common Market tariff treatment.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Member States undertake where they have not already done so, to:
(a) adopt uniform, comprehensive and systematic tariff classification of goods with a common and specific basis of description and interpretation in accordance with internationally accepted standards;
(b) adopt a standard system of valuation of goods based on principles of equity, uniformity and simplicity of application in accordance with internationally accepted standards and guidelines;
(c) agree on common terms and conditions governing temporary admission procedures including the list or range of goods to be covered and the nature of manufacturing or processing to be authorized;
(d) implement the customs requirements for the re-exportation of goods provided for in this Treaty;
(e) implement the customs requirements for the transit of goods as prescribed in this Treaty;
(f) harmonize and simplify customs formalities and documents in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty; and
(g) adopt common procedures for the establishment and operation of free zones, free ports, customs supervised factories and export drawbacks.
3. The Member States undertake to harmonize their customs and statistical nomenclature and standardize their foreign trade statistics to ensure comparability and reliability of the relevant information.
Article 65. Communication of Customs Information
The Member States shall exchange information on matters relating to customs and more particularly to the following:
(a) changes in customs legislation, procedures, duties and commodities subject to import or export restrictions; and
(b) information relating to the prevention, investigation and suppression of customs offences as provided for in Article 66 of this Treaty.
Article 66. Prevention, Investigation and Suppression of Customs Offences
1. The Member States undertake to co-operate in the prevention, investigation and suppression of customs offences.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Member States undertake to:
(a) exchange lists of goods and publications the importation of which is prohibited in their respective territories;
(b) prohibit the exportation of goods and publications referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph to each other's customs territories;
(c) exchange among themselves lists of goods known to be the subject of illicit traffic between their customs territories and maintain special surveillance over the movement of such goods;
(d) consult each other on the establishment of common border posts and take such steps as may be deemed appropriate to ensure that goods exported or imported through common frontiers pass through the competent and recognized Customs Offices and along approved routes;
(e) exchange among themselves lists of Customs Offices located along common frontiers, details of the powers of such offices, their working hours and any changes in these particulars for the effective operation of the provisions of sub-paragraph (d) of this paragraph;
(f) endeavour to correlate the powers and harmonise the working hours of their corresponding Customs Offices referred to in sub-paragraph (e) of this paragraph; and
(g) maintain special surveillance over:
(i) the entry into, sojourn in, and exit from their customs territories of particular persons reasonably suspected by a Member State of being involved in activities that are contrary to the customs law of any Member State;
(ii) the movement of particular goods suspected by any Member State to be the subject of illicit traffic towards the importing Member State;
(iii) particular places where stocks of goods have been built up giving reason for suspicion that they may be used for illicit importation into any Member States; and
(iv) particular vehicles, ships, aircraft, or other means of transport suspected of being used to commit customs offences in any Member State.
3. The Member States shall exchange:
(a) as a matter of course and without delay, any information regarding:
(i) operations which it is suspected will give rise to customs offences in any Member State;
(ii) persons, vehicles, ships, aircraft and other means of transport reasonably suspected of being engaged in activities that may be in violation of the customs laws of any Member State;
(iii) new techniques of committing customs offences; and
(iv) goods known to be the subject of illicit traffic;
(b) on the request from a Member State and as promptly as possible, any available information:
(i) contained in customs documents relating to such exchanges of goods between countries as are suspected of being in violation of the customs law of the requesting Member State;
(ii) enabling false declarations to be detected, in particular with respect to dutiable value; and
(iii) concerning certificates of origin, invoices or other documents, known to be, or suspected of being, false; and
(c) on the request and if appropriate in the form of official documents from a Member State, information concerning the following matters:
(i) the authenticity of any official document produced in support of goods declaration made to customs authorities of the requesting Member State;
(ii) whether goods which were granted preferential treatment on departure from the territory of the requesting Member State, because they were declared as intended for home use in the other Member State, have been duly cleared for home use in that State;
(iii) whether goods imported into the territory of the requesting Member State have been lawfully exported from that of the exporting Member States;
(iv) whether goods exported from the territory of the requesting Member State have been lawfully imported into that of the importing Member States, and in accordance with the importer's declaration; and
(v) special documents which may be issued by the customs authorities of the exporting Member State for surrender to the customs authorities of the importing Member State in order that they may certify that the goods were lawfully exported.
4. Each Member State undertakes, whenever expressly requested by another Member State, to:
(a) make enquiries, record statements and obtain evidence concerning a customs offence under investigation in the requesting Member State and transmit the results of the enquiry as well as any documents or other evidence, to the requesting Member State; and
(b) notify the competent authorities of the requesting Member State of actions and decisions taken by the competent authorities of the Member State where the customs offence took place in accordance with the law in force in that Member State.
Chapter Eight. Re-exportation of Goods
Article 67. General Provisions
1. The Member States agree that re-exports bound for a receiving State shall be exempted from the payment of import or export duties in the importing State: Provided that this paragraph shall not preclude the levying of normal administrative and service charges applicable to the import or export of similar goods in accordance with their customs laws and regulations.
2. The Member States agree that:
(a) re-exports imported into any Member State shall be subjected to the same import duties as are applicable to similar goods imported directly into their territories from third countries; and
(b) there shall be no discrimination in the treatment of re-exports traded among the Member States.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 2 of this Article, the Member States agree that re-exported goods which qualify as originating in a Member State under the provisions of this Treaty shall be treated as if they were directly imported by the receiving State from the Member State where they originate. Such goods shall be accorded appropriate Common Market tariff treatment: Provided that the re-exporter thereof produces documentary evidence certified by the authorities designated for that purpose, to the effect that the goods originated in the Member State from which they were originally imported.
4. The Member States undertake to facilitate the re-export of goods within the Common Market in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol on Transit Trade and Transit Facilities.
Article 68. Refund and Remission of Duties and Taxes
1. Where import duties on goods have been charged and collected by the importing State, that State shall refund all such duties less import subsidies, if any, to the re-exporter of those goods in its territory when the goods are re-exported to another Member State in an unused condition: Provided that the re-export is made within twelve months from the date on which the goods are received in the importing State.
2. Where imported goods have been admitted with suspended customs duties for warehousing, transit or trans-shipment under customs bond without payment of customs duties, no import or export duties shall be charged in respect of such goods when they are subsequently re-exported by the importing State.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and of Article 59 of this Treaty, the importing State shall, in accordance with its customs laws and regulations be free to withhold or charge part of the duties collected or collectable where the goods have been re-packed, assembled, preserved, blended or otherwise processed in the importing State:
Provided that no duties shall be refunded where the processed goods qualify as originating in the importing State under the provisions of this Treaty.
Chapter Nine. Simplification and Harmonisation of Trade Documents and Procedures
Article 69. Trade Documents and Procedures
The Member States agree to simplify and harmonize their trade documents and procedures in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter so as to facilitate trade in goods and services within the Common Market by:
(a) reducing to a minimum the number of trade documents and copies thereof;
(b) reducing to a minimum the number of national bodies required to handle documents referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph; and
(c) harmonizing the nature of the information to be contained in documents referred to in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph.
Article 70. Trade Facilitation
The Member States undertake to initiate trade facilitation programmes aimed at:
(a) reducing the cost of documents and the volume of paper work required in respect of trade among the Member States;
(b) ensuring that the nature and volume of information required in respect of trade within the Common Market does not adversely affect the economic development of, or trade among the Member States;
(c) adopting common standards of trade procedures within the Common Market where international requirements do not suit the conditions prevailing among the Member States;
(d) ensuring adequate co-ordination between trade and transport facilitation within the Common Market;
(e) keeping under review the procedures adopted in international trade and transport with a view to simplifying and adopting them for use by the Member States;
(f) collecting and disseminating information on trade facilitation and documents;
(g) promoting the development and adoption of common solutions to problems in trade facilitation among the Member States; and
(h) initiating or promoting the establishment of joint programmes for the training of personnel engaged in trade facilitation among the Member States.
Article 71. Standardisation of Trade Documents and Information
1. The Member States undertake, where appropriate, to design and standardise their trade documents and the information required to be contained in such documents in accordance with internationally accepted standards, practices and guidelines, and taking into account their possible use in computer and other automatic data programming systems.
2. The simplification, harmonisation and standardisation of customs regulations, documents and procedures and their computerisation will be facilitated by the regional Automated System for Customs Data Centre at the Headquarters of the Common Market.
3. For the purpose of implementing the provisions of this Chapter, the Member States agree to establish national trade facilitation bodies.