Article 7. Assignment of Functions to Economic and Social Council

In accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council will be responsible for furthering the objectives of Chapter III and supervising the fulfillment of the obligations assumed under Article 6.

CHAPTER IV. GENERAL COMMERCIAL POLICY

SECTION A. GENERAL COMMERCIAL PROVISIONS

Article 8. General Most-Favored-Nation Treatment

1. With respect to customs duties and charges of any kind imposed on or in connection with importation or exportation or imposed on the international transfer of payments for imports or exports, and with respect to the method of levying such duties and charges, and with respect to all rules and formalities in connection with importation or exportation, and with respect to all matters relating to internal taxation or regulation referred to in Article 9, any advantage, favor, privilege or immunity granted by any Member country to any product originating in or destined for any other country, shall be accorded immediately and unconditionally to the like product originating in or destined for all other Member countries. The principle underlying this paragraph shall also extend to the awarding by Members of governmental contracts for public works, in respect of which each Member shall accord fair and equitable treatment to the commerce of the other Members.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be con strued to require the elimination of any preference in the rate of ordinary import customs duty which does not exceed the preference in force in any Member country on July 1, 1939 and which falls within the descriptions set forth in (a) or (b), below, but such preferences shall in no event be increased above their level on July 1, 1946 and shall be subject to processes of elimination pursuant to the provisions of Article 18:

a. Preferences in force exclusively between territories in respect of which there existed on July 1, 1939 common sovereignty or relations of protection or suzerainty. Each Member to which this provision applies shall provide a list of such territories in respect of which preferences were in force on that date, which lists shall be incorporated in an annex to this Charter.

b. Preferences in force exclusively between the United States of America and the Republic of Cuba.

Article 9. National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation

1. The products of any Member country imported into any other Member country shall be exempt from internal taxes and other internal charges higher than those imposed on like products of national origin, and shall be accorded treatment no less favorable than that accorded like products of national origin in respect of all internal laws, regulations or requirements affecting their sale, transportation or distribution or affecting their mixing, processing, exhibition or other use, including laws and regulations governing the procurement by governmental agencies of supplies for public use other than by or for the military establishment. The provisions of this paragraph shall be understood to preclude the application of internal requirements restricting the amount or proportion of an imported product permitted to be mixed, processed, exhibited or used.

2. The Members recognize that the imposition of internal taxes on the products of other Member countries, for the purpose of affording protection to the domestic production of competitive products, would be contrary to the spirit of this Article, and they agree to take such measures as may be open to them to prevent in the future the adoption 'of new or higher taxes of this kind within their territories.

Article 10. Freedom of Transit

1. There shall be freedom of transit through the Member countries via the routes most convenient for international transit for traffic in transit to or from other Member countries.

2. Any Member may require that traffic in transit through its territory be entered at the proper customhouse, but, except in cases of failure to comply with applicable customs laws and regulations, such traffic coming from or going to other Member countries shall be exempt from the payment of any transit duty, customs duty, or similar charge, and shall not be subject to any unnecessary delays or restrictions.

3. All charges and regulations imposed by Members on traffic in transit to or from other Member countries shall be reasonable, having regard to the conditions of the traffic.

4. With respect to all charges, rules, and formalities in connection with transit, each Member shall accord to traffic in transit to or from any other Member country treatment no less favorable than the treatment accorded to traffic in transit to or from any other country.

5. Each Member shall accord to products which have been in transit through any other Member country treatment no less favorable than that which would have been accorded to such products had they been transported from their origin to their destination without going through such other Member country.

6. Persons, baggage and goods, and also vessels, coaching and goods stock, and other means of transport, shall be deemed to be in transit across the territory of a Member when the passage across such territory, with or without transshipment, warehousing, breaking bulk, or change in the mode of transport, is only a portion of a complete journey, beginning and terminating beyond the frontier of the Member across whose territory the transit takes place. Traffic of this nature is termed in this Article "traffic in transit.”

Article 11. Antidumping and Countervailing Duties

1. No antidumping duty shall be imposed on any product of any Member country imported into any other Member country in excess of an amount equal to the margin of dumping under which such product is being imported. For the purposes of this Article, the margin of dumping shall be understood to mean the amount by which the price of a product exported from one country to another is less than (a) the comparable price charged for the like or similar product to buyers in the domestic market of the exporting country, or, (b) in the absence of such domestic price, the highest comparable price at which the like or similar product is sold for export to any third country, or, (c) in the absence of (a) and (b), the cost of production of the product in the country of origin; with due allowance in each case for differences in conditions and terms of sale, for differences in taxation, and for other differences affecting price comparability.

2. No countervailing duty shall be imposed on any product of any Member country imported into any other Member country in excess of an amount equal to the estimated bounty or subsidy ascertained to have been granted, directly or indirectly, on the production or export of such product in the country of origin or exportation.

3. No product of any Member country imported into any other Member country shall be subject to antidumping or countervailing duty by reason of the exemption of such product from duties or taxes imposed in the country of origin or exportation upon the like product when consumed domestically.

4. No product of any Member country imported into any other Member country shall be subject to both antidumping and countervailing duty to compensate for the same situation of dumping or export subsidization.

5. Each Member undertakes that as a general rule it will not impose any antidumping duty or countervailing duty on the importation of any product of other Member countries unless it determines that the dumping or subsidization, as the case may be, under which such product

is imported, is such as to injure or threaten to injure a domestic industry, or is such as to prevent the establishment of a domestic industry.

Article 12. Tariff Valuation

1. Members undertake to work toward the standardization, in so far as practicable, of definitions of value and of procedures for determining the value of products subject to customs duties or other restrictions based upon or regulated in any manner by value. With a view to furthering such cooperation, the Organization is authorized to investigate and recommend to Members such bases and methods for determining the value of products as would appear to be best suited to the needs of commerce and most capable of widespread adoption. 2. The Members recognize the validity of the following general principles of tariff valuation, and they undertake to give effect to such principles, in respect of all products subject to duty based upon or regulated by value, at the earliest practicable date:

a. The value for duty purposes of imported products should be based on the actual value of the kind of imported merchandise on which duty is assessed, or the nearest ascertainable equivalent of such value, and should not be based on the value of products of national origin or on arbitrary or fictitious valuations.

b. The value for duty purposes of any imported product should not include the amount of any internal tax, applicable within the country of origin or export, from which the imported product has been made exempt.

c. In converting the value of any imported product from one cur rency to another, for the purpose of assessing duty, the rate of exchange to be used should be fixed in accordance with prescribed standards to reflect effectively the current value of each currency in commercial transactions, and until the elimination of dual or multiple rates of exchange either one or more than one rate for each dual- or multiplerate currency may be so fixed.

d. The bases and methods for determining the value of products subject to duties regulated by value should be stable and should be published in full detail, in order that traders may be enabled to estimate, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the amount of duty · likely to be imposed.

Article 13. Customs Formalities

1. The Members recognize the principle that subsidiary fees and charges imposed on or in connection with importation or exportation

should be limited in amount to the approximate cost of services rendered and should not represent an indirect protection to domestic products or a taxation of imports or exports for fiscal purposes. They also recognize the need for reducing the number and diversity of such subsidiary fees and charges, for minimizing the incidence and complexity of import and export formalities, and for decreasing and simplifying import and export documentation requirements.

2. Members undertake to review their customs laws and regulations with a view to giving effect to the principles and objectives of paragraph 1 of this Article at the earliest practicable date and shall report to the Organization from time to time on the progress made. The Organization is authorized to request such reports of Members and to assist and cooperate with them in carrying out the provisions of this paragraph.

3. Greater than nominal penalties shall not be imposed by any Member in connection with the importation of any product of any other Member country because of errors in documentation which are obviously clerical in origin or with regard to which good faith can be established. Moreover, Members shall remit any penalty imposed on or in connection with the importation of any product of any other Member country if it is officially found that the penalty has been imposed because of actions which resulted from errors or advice of responsible customs officials.

4. The provisions of this Article shall extend to fees, charges, formalities and requirements relating to all customs matters, including

a. Consular transactions;

b. Quantitative restrictions;

c. Licensing;

d. Exchange regulations;

e. Statistical services;

f. Documents, documentation and certification;

g. Analysis and inspection; and

h. Quarantine, sanitation and fumigation (plant, animal and human).

Article 14. Marks of Origin

1. The Members agree that in adopting and implementing laws and regulations relating to marks of origin, the difficulties and inconveniences which such measures may cause to the commerce and industry of exporting countries should be reduced to a minimum.

2. Each Member shall accord to the products of each other Member country treatment with regard to marking requirements no less favorable than the treatment accorded like products of any third country.