411.006/8–3051

The French Embassy to the Department of State

Translation

The French Embassy in the United States presents its compliments to the Department of State and has the honor of referring to the restrictive measures taken by the Secretary of Agriculture by virtue of Section 104 of the Act entitled “Defense Production Act of 1951”.

Among these measures, the establishment of a quota on imported cheese causes a serious prejudice to French exporters of Roquefort cheese. The quota established by the Department of Agriculture for imports of Roquefort cheese into the United States during the period of August 9, 1951 to June 30, 1952 is based on the average imports of 1948, 1949 and 1950. Its inforcement will result in reducing the [Page 1446] sales of Roquefort cheese to about 650 short tons (annual base), whereas they reached 800 short tons in 1950, the latter figure being still inferior to that of 1200 short tons imported in 1937 and 1938.

In anticipation of the consequences which such restrictive measures may have on the trade between France and the United States, this Embassy deems it necessary to precise the following points, several of which have already been mentioned in its note of July 13, 1951:—

1.
Roquefort cheese is an exclusively French luxury article, and its price is more than double that of blue cheese of American manufacture. It should not be considered as a product directly competing with American blue cheese, the latter being manufactured from cow’s milk, whereas Roquefort is made from sheep’s milk.
2.

As indicated above, the imports of Roquefort cheese into the United States have not as yet recovered their prewar level: whereas they were around 2,390,000 lbs. in 1937 and in 1938, they could not be resumed in 1945, owing to the food situation in France. They were as follows in the past few years:

1948 852,475 lbs.
1949 1,393,097
1950 1,640,891
6 months 1951 800,524

The fact that the quota established by the Secretary of Agriculture is based on the last three years constitutes a new element which places Roquefort in a rather unfavorable position, as compared to other foreign cheeses.

3.
The institution of these quantitative restrictions is contrary to the provisions of the GATT.
a)
None of the exceptions provided for in Article XI could be invoked: the decision to place imported cheese under quota is not designed to permit the enforcement of measures which operate:
  • —to apply “standards or regulations for the classification, grading or marketing of commodities in international trade” (2 b);
  • —“to restrict the quantities of the like domestic products permitted to be marketed or produced” (2 c) (i);
  • —to remove “a temporary surplus of the like domestic products by making the surplus available to certain groups of domestic consumers free of charge, or at prices below the current market level” (2 c) (ii). Even if the competing foreign cheeses should eventually create a surplus which would have to be removed, the Defense Production Act provides methods entirely different from those of paragraph 2 c (ii) of the above mentioned article.
b)

The quota which has just been instituted could be justified only by article XII. The latter permits the application of import restrictions. However, it only gives this latitude in order to safeguard the external financial position and balance of payments.

It seems unnecessary to insist on the fact that the measure referred to in this note has been taken by a creditor country against its debtors, which, on the other hand, it encourages to increase their receipts in dollars.

[Page 1447]

In short, the quota which has been instituted against the importations of cheese in the United States constitutes a new obstacle to the development of exchanges. This measure is contrary, not only to the text of the General Agreement, but also to its spirit.

Consequently, the French Embassy would be obliged to the Department of State if it would take into consideration the above mentioned points, and would highly appreciate it if the Government of the United States would reconsider the present quota system and also make representations to the Department of Agriculture, with a view toward obtaining from the latter a less rigorous application of the provisions of Section 104 of the Defense Production Act of 1951.

The attention of the Department of State is also called to the fact that in case no improvement of the present status of French cheese imports in the United States should take place before the meeting of the Contracting Parties of the GATT, which is to be held at Geneva, starting September 17, 1951, the French Government would very likely deem it necessary to request the Executive Secretary of the Interim Commission for International Trade Organization to place this question on the agenda of its next session.

The French Embassy takes this opportunity to present to the Department of State ...