Study Of The Surrogate Country System In The International Anti-dumping Regulations

Surrogate Country System in anti-dumping is a commonly used measure by developed countries for trade protection. After having joined World Trade Organization,China obviously becomes the biggest victimize country of international anti-dumping. The involved products scope is wide, and the scale is large. The collected anti-dumping tax rate presents ascension in straight line. The damage resulted in our country's export products is biggest. One of the most important reasons is to take Europe and America as the chief the western developed members and many developing members still treat China as "non- market economy country", and then adopt"Surrogate Country System"at the "normal value" problem, thus make the involved products of our country easiest to compose dumping and the dumping range is biggest. This is doubtless a kind of bias to China's exported products. But as the basic text of China to join the WTO,《The Commitment of The PRC in Entering The WTO》still provide that the members of WTO can apply this clause to China in 15 years.As the initial premise of applying Surrogate Country System, the "Market economy position" problem is currently the most controversial problem when China facing the anti-dumping inquisition. The additional regulation to Article 6 Section 1(b) in Supplement of the GATT confirmed in principle that the local price of the product which comes from the " state controlled trade "country can't be the foundation compared with the export price. Henceforth the members of WTO such as the United States and EU etc. established related provisions aiming at non- market economy country according to this, and adopted " Surrogate Country " principle to confirm the normal value. Because the GATT provision is too misty, and also haven't provided any viable method or unified standard for how to confirm the normal value of the export product from "non- market economy country", all countries aren't be in line with the GATT principle so strictly when ensuring the non- market economy standard, but loosened the conditions generally, and each does things as it wants in establishing the method and procedure of applying"Surrogate Country"system, and the fulfillment have been filled with randomness and uncertainty, thus it has produced extremely absurd and unfair result to China.It has been already a long time for China's conversion from the central planned economy system toward the market economy system. If measured according to the GATT provisions, China's market economy position should have been reckoned without problem already. But because of the Europe and America's regardlessness of the effect of Chinese market economy reforms, they refuse admitting the market economy position of our country in advance. Though China has become the formal member of World Trade Organization, We still have been in the inequal place at various aspects such as anti-dumping compared with other members of World Trade Organizations. Currently, under the situation that it is impossible to rescind the Surrogate Country System thoroughly, how to establish generally applied and undiscriminating market economy standard and how to use the Surrogate Country System most fairly, reasonably, rationally is the target that our country should seek for. It is also another new challenge that World Trade Organization has to face. This article researches the background and multilateral legal basis of the Surrogate Country System, analyses the Surrogate Country clause and its applying conditions in The Commitment, investigates the lawmaking and the fulfillment of the Surrogate Country System in each main developed country, analyses the implication and characteristics of the Surrogate Country System, and raises some all-sided points with pertinence for China to reasonably and legally deal with the clause.