Ecuador won in the shrimp anti-dumping lawsuit at WTO- a good lesson for Vietnam

19/02/2007 12:00 - 1246 Views


US Department of Commerce (DOC) had violated Article 2.4.2 of WTO Anti-dumping Agreement when concluding that frozen warm water shrimp from Ecuador has been exported to the US at a dumping price, as final ruling by WTO dispute settlement body On Jan 30th

In Nov 2004, DOC also had a similar final judgment  on Vietnamese shrimp exporters to apply anti-dumping country-wide duty of 25.76%.

According to the WTO’s conclusion, the US violates rules in the Anti-dumping Agreement as it removes or cuts down on the benefits that Ecuadorian  exporters deserved.

WTO has suggested the Dispute Settlement Body(DSB) require the US to correct its decisions on Ecuador in accordance with  Anti-dumping Agreement.

In Nov 2004, DOC also had a similar final judgment  on Vietnamese shrimp exporters to apply anti-dumping country-wide duty of 25.76% . Some mandatory respondents such as Minh Phu Co., MInh Hai Co., Kim Anh Co., and Camimex were imposed with specific levels of duties.
In Jan 2005, International Trade Commission (ITC) agreed to impose anti-duping duty on frozen warm water shrimps imported from 6 countries (India, Thailand, Ecuador, Brazil, China and Vietnam) to the US except for canned shrimps.

These duties became effective since Jan 1st 2005. However, DOC will expedite administrative examinations to adjust  the rates of duties based on the real activities of shrimp exporters on annual basis.

Ecuador’s legal procedure:

On Nov 17th 2005, Ecuador requested the WTO to hold discussions on: (1) the final judgment of DOC, promulgated on Nov 23rd 2004, which concluded that Ecuador had dumped its frozen warm water  shrimp exports to the US; (2) making correction to the final judgment  of Feb 1st 2005 which also concluded that Ecuador had exported shrimps to the US at dumping prices; (3) decision to impose anti-dumping duty on Ecuador.

Ecuador strictly emphasized on the US practices of employing 'zeroing' when calculating dumping margins. With this method, the US may “zero” all the cases in which shrimps are sold at a higher price in the US than in other countries. It can be simply understood that the US intentionally tried to find the margin of dumping.

WTO has once decided that the practices of “zeroing” is illegal.
Ecuador took legal actions against the US for breaking the provision VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and the provisions 1, 2.1, 2.2,2.4, 2.4.2, 5.8, 6.10, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4 and 18.1 of the Anti-dumping Agreement .

On Nov 28th 2005, India also asked for taking part in these discussions.

On Nov 1st 2005 Thailand  followed Ecuador's move.

On June 8th 2006, Ecuador asked WTO to establish an arbitration panel to settle the dispute. On Jul 19th 206, DSB of WTO decided to establish a panel.

On Sep 26th 2006, the arbitration panel was formally established.

On Oct 10th 2006, all parties reported to the DSB about the legislation procedure.

On Jan 30th 12007, the panel gave out the final judgment (as mentioned above).

WTO 's procedure  of dispute  settlement.

 

(Nhan dan)
19/02/2007

Source: vietnamnet
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