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for the local governments or authorities concerned. With regard to taxation by local governments or authorities which is inconsistent with both the letter and spirit of Article 18, the term "reasonable measures" would permit a Member to eliminate the inconsistent taxation gradually over a transition period, if abrupt action would create serious administrative and financial difficulties. Paragraph 2 A tax conforming to the requirements of the first sentence of paragraph 2 would be considered to be inconsistent with the provisions of the second sentence only in cases where competition was involved between, on the one hand, the taxed product and on the other hand, a directly competitive or substitutable product which was not similarly taxed. Paragraph 5 Regulations consistent with the provisions of the first sentence of paragraph 5 shall not be considered to be contrary to the provisions of the second sentence in any case in which all of the products subject to the regulations are produced domestically in substantial quantities. A regulation cannot be justified as being consistent with the provisions of the second sentence on the ground that the proportion or amount allocated to each of the products which are the subject of the regulation constitutes an equitable relationship between imported and domestic products. ad Article 20 Paragraph 2 (a) In the case of products which are basic to diet in the exporting country and which are subject to alternate annual shortages and surpluses, the provisions of paragraph 2 (a) do not preclude such export prohibitions or restrictions as are necessary to maintain from year to year domestic stocks sufficient to avoid critical shortages. Paragraph 2 (c) The expression " agricultural and fisheries product, imported in any form " means the product in the form in which it is originally sold by its producer and such processed forms of the products as are so closely related to the original product as regard utilization that their unrestricted importation would make the restriction on the original product ineffective. Paragraph 3 (b) The provisions for prior consultation would not prevent a Member which had given other Members a reasonable period of time for such consultation from introducing the restrictions at the date intended. It is recognized that, with regard to import restrictions applied under paragraph 2 (c) (ii), the period of advance notice provided would in some cases necessarily be relatively short.