Study On Some Procedure Issues In International Anti-dumping Law

Along with further development of world economic integration andglobalization, most counties adopt anti-dumping measures, as a prevailing andimportant legal means to combat unfair competition and protect domesticindustry. WTO has drafted Anti-dumping Agreement" to normalizeanti-dumping behaviors of its members. But in practice, countries oftenviolate the Agreement in the interest of domestic industry. The anti-dumpingcomplains account for the largest proportion of the cases brought to DisputeSolution Body of World Trade Organization. Because of the rapid economicprogress and imperfect legal system in our country, the enterprises have beendeeply impacted by anti-dumping measures imposed by other countries. Onthe one hand, the export products of our country encounter the anti-dumpinginvestigation of other countries very often. Especially in recent years, a largenumber of developing countries begin to carry out anti-dumpinginvestigations on the products of our country. On the other hand, plenty ofcheap import products gush into our country. Domestic enterprises are injuredby import products frequently. Compared with other countries, anti-dumpinglegislation and law enforcement of our country still has certain defects. This article mainly analyzes the related procedure issues of initiatingstage and investigation stage in anti-dumping investigation. In order toanalyze in depth the relevant stipulation in Anti-dumping Agreement ", the Iarticle studies on some cases dealt with by DSB panel and/or the AppellateBody. The panel and the Appellate Body analyze Articles 5 and 6 of theAgreement. In the initiate stage, Articles 5.2 and 5.3 contain differentobligations. Article 5.2 is the requirement of written application for theapplicants and Article 5.3 requires the authority to examine the accuracy andadequacy of the evidence in the application. An application which isconsistent with the requirements of Article 5.2 will not necessarily containsufficient evidence to justify initiation under Article 5.3. At the same time, ininitiating an investigation, the investigating authorities should follow theprocedure requirements, such as the rules on public notice etc. In theinvestigation stage, the article mainly discusses the issues concerning Article6.8 and Annex II. When the authorities adopt facts available in determiningdumping and/or injury, it should strictly comply with the Agreement. Theinvestigation authorities cannot disregard a piece of information withoutundue difficulties and cannot do it without explicit explanation. Besides, thearticle analyzes Article 3.4 and finds that the procedure requirements arelinked with the substantial requirement closely. The anti-dumpinginvestigations should be fair and that investigating authorities should basetheir conclusions on an objective evaluation of the evidence. It is not possibleto have an objective evaluation of the evidence if some of the evidence isrequired to be ignored. It is mandatory that all of the listed factors in Article3.4 be considered by an investigating authority. At the same time, theconsideration of the factors listed in Article 3.4 must be clear in thedetermination. The investigating authorities would make the illegal conclusion,which violate the Agreement if it does not pay attention to the detail issues onthe procedure. In the end, the article analyzes the present situation of anti-dumping IIinvestigation in our country. It discusses in detail the public notices on thecase of anti-dumping investigation initiated by our authorities on the polyesterfilm imported from South Korea. Due to the defects of the legislation and lawenforcement on anti-dumping investigation, some advice are put up asfollows: In the first place, in order to let the enterprises make the applicatio...