On The Amendment Of Rules Of Origin From The Antidumping Aspect In China

The rules of origin are a"gray"policy means favored by trade protectionists of developing countries and are a covert tool frequently used for trade protection. China is becoming a major victim of global trade disputes in recent years while it is approaching an expansion period in its foreign trade. According to statistics from the World Trade Organization, a total of 2821 anti-dump cases had been under investigation by members of WTO from the time the organization was founded in 1985 up to December 31, 2005, of which 466 involved exported products from China, accounting for around 1/6 of the total cases. In fact, China has undergone the most anti-dump investigations for 10 successive years. One of the reason is the comparatively low standard for the"economic nationality"on which the country's current rules of origin stand in the judgment of exportation from multi countries, which makes it possible for many products by manufacturers from other countries to be sold on the international market as products from China labeled"Made in China". When these products are actually being dumped to other countries, China becomes object of anti-dump movement. In addition, increasing numbers of international economists and statisticians come to believe that there are some irrationalities in the current prevailing rules of origin, especially in the statistics of the entrepot trade and processing trade where considerable deviation exists. That is simply why the US-China trade deficit is wildly magnified and the trade balance between the two countries distorted. From this we can see rules of origin are becoming remarkably important in international trade today when globalization of economy and integration of regional economies are expediting all the way.Clearly,the rules of origin are what the product nationality is based on which centers round the standard for the origin subdivided in real application as separate standards for added-value percentage, tax variation and specific processing procedures. Therefore solution should be quickly found for China to avoid the elaborated"trap"by this situation as a large trader amongst the many developing countries and to lead its import and export toward a healthy, sustainable and equitable trade.This thesis takes the rules of origin as the cut-in point. By comparing WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin, rules of origin of the US, EU and China, the writer analyses the influence that the rules of origin exerts upon the recognition of"normal value"and of"local industry"as well as the application of rules of origin in the anti-dump program and anti-circumvention mechanism. Grounded upon analysis of the above issues and in expatiating the current state of the country's legislation for rules of origin and deficiencies in the country's rules of origin, the writer forwarded his own proposals for perfecting the rules of origin.