Textiles & Clothing

Message to the Industry - Textile & Clothing

December 3, 2004

Textile and Apparel Restraint Agreements Involving WTO Non-members

This is to inform importers, brokers and other interested parties that the five bilateral restraint agreements and the single unilateral restraint agreement involving WTO non-members will end on December 31, 2004. Canada has bilateral restraint agreements with five countries that are not members of the WTO: Lebanon, Syria, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Canada also has a unilateral restraint agreement with another WTO non-member, North Korea.

As is the case for WTO member countries, the WTO non-members bilateral restraint arrangements will be administered on the basis of the date of shipment from the country of origin. Please refer to Message to the Industry - Last phase of the Quota Elimination under WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), for further details concerning administrative requirements for restraint shipments leaving their country of origin in 2004.

The elimination of quotas for non-WTO countries on December 31, 2004 will conclude Canada’s multi-year process of eliminating of import restraints, related to the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, for textiles and clothing products.

Further information

Further information on the WTO Agreement on Textiles and Clothing and the elimination of import quota can be obtained from:

Textiles and Clothing Trade Policy Division
Export and Import Controls Bureau
International Trade Canada
125 Sussex Drive, Tower C , 4th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2

Telephone: (613) 996-3711
Facsimile : (613) 995-5137