Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 37 • 31st October 2002
WTO: Implementation Woes Receive No Boost From Anti-Dumping
At a 21-22 October informal meeting of the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices’ Working Group on Implementation, Members discussed the two implementation issues ascribed to the body by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference last November. These refer to the time period that is to be used when assessing whether to apply anti-dumping duties on a developing country (in terms of calculating their volume of imports), and how to operationalise the ’special regard’ that developed countries ‘must’ show developing countries before imposing anti-dumping duties. While Members diverged over how to proceed with the draft recommendations on the former item, they have yet to reach the stage of draft recommendations on the latter. The Chairman, Mr. Cristian Espinosa (Ecuador), reportedly emphasised to Members that the November 2002 deadline was fast approaching and that the mandate must be completed this year.
Background
In the Decision on Implementation agreed at Doha, Ministers gave the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices two items for which it was to draw up recommendations within 12 months. Thus by November 2002, it was to have recommendations on how to ensure the maximum possible predictability and objectivity in the application of time frames with regards to dumping investigations (Article 5.8); and on how to operationalise Article 15 (special regard for developing countries), which is a special and differential (S&D) treatment provision (i.e. a provision which aims to provide additional flexibility to developing countries).
While anti-dumping is primarily being dealt with in the Negotiating Group on Rules (see BRIDGES Weekly, 24 October), developing country Members are keen to have these two items resolved in the Working Group on Implementation. This is due to the fact, speculated one trade source, that should the deadline on these two items be missed (as has occurred on a number of implementation issues, see BRIDGES Monthly, available later this week at http://www.ictsd.org), they would likely be subsumed into the broader anti-dumping negotiations in the Rules body, and thus be open to trade-offs on other anti-dumping issues. The S&D provision, Article 15, is also being discussed in the Committee on Trade and Development’s review of all S&D provisions — which has itself missed one deadline so far (see BRIDGES Weekly, 24 October).
Time frames for dumping investigations
Members are working on a third draft concerning the time period to be used in assessing the negligibility of the volume of imports from a developing country in a dumping investigation (G/ADP/AHG/W/124/Rev.3, searchable at http://docsonline.wto.org). Divisions here generally fall on a North-South divide, with developed country Members seeking the maximum flexibility to choose which time period to use, and developing countries wanting Members to agree on a standardised time frame for all. Another area that has yet to be worked out is whether the same period should be used for all investigations.
The current draft to clarify Article 5.8, depending on the bracketed language that is agreed upon, could provide Members with a number of options, which they would then have to use consistently (unless they could prove that a change in time period was required). Alternative language would direct Members to use the most recent 12 consecutive months prior to initiation for which data are available (one of the options in the suggestion above), providing only one alternative should domestic legislation prohibit the primary method.
Article 5.8 of the Agreement provides that there shall be immediate termination in cases where the authorities determine that the volume of dumped imports, actual or potential, is negligible. While it does define the volume of dumped imports to be considered negligible (three percent), it does not establish a period of time over which imports are to be counted in determining whether the volume of imports is negligible.
Paying ’special regard’ to developing countries
Discussions on Article 15 centred around three proposals, one from Brazil, India, & Indonesia (no document number available); Turkey (G/ADP/AHG/W/141, searchable at http://docsonline.wto.org); and the US (G/ADP/AHG/W/138, searchable at link above). The joint proposal reportedly called for a number of changes to provide more favourable treatment to developing countries, including inter alia, raising the thresholds for which developing countries are to be excluded from anti- dumping duties. The Turkish proposal has some similar elements, however they want these to apply to all Members. The US paper, which had seen discussions at the previous meeting, looks at the use of price undertakings (agreements to raise prices on the products under investigation rather than applying anti-dumping duties) for developing countries. On this item, a number of countries sought clarifications around the procedures of how such a mechanism might operate.
The next meeting for this Working Group on Implementation is 25 November 2002.
ICTSD reporting.