Three significant notices have been published on anti-dumping issues.

On December 18 2009 a determination was published that concludes the administrative review of definitive anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of organic chemical goods from China, as classified under Headings 2941.10.02, 2941.10.03, 2941.10.06, 29410.08 and 2941.10.12 of Mexico's harmonized tariff schedule. The Ministry of the Economy ordered that anti-dumping duties on the five tariff headings be eliminated, finding them to be incompatible with Article IV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 because the existence of dumping was not analyzed, a specific examination was not undertaken to determine the existence of injury and no causation was established under the Foreign Trade Law.

On December 21 2009 a resolution was published on the administrative revocation remedies submitted by Calkins and Burke Ltd and Calkins, Burke and Zannie de México SA de CV against the final determination on the administrative review of anti-dumping duties on imports of agaric mushrooms from China. The ministry found that an amendment to the final determination was merited in order to clarify that the importer was entitled to: (i) a refund (plus corresponding interest) of the difference between the previous anti-dumping duty of $0.2476 per net kilogram and the rate of $0.1809 that resulted from the administrative review of such duties; or (ii) the execution of the guarantees submitted for the relevant amounts for payments made between January 1 2007 and June 16 2009. This is the first time that the ministry has acknowledged that a lower duty derived from the review process is retroactive to the beginning of the review period, not merely to the date of publication of the initial determination.

On December 24 2009 a panel resolution(1) was issued on the final determination of the anti-dumping investigation into imports of table apples - specifically, the 'Red Delicious' (and mutations) and 'Golden Delicious' varieties - from the United States, as classified under Heading 0808.10.01 of Mexico's harmonized tariff schedule The panel ordered the ministry to submit its compliance report no later than January 15 2010 and pursuant to the terms and conditions provided by the final order dated October 15 2009 (which required that the determination be based solely on information in the case file, excluding additional argument or evidence). The ministry filed a motion indicating that it would request the participants to comment on the manner in which it should comply with the order, and that therefore it would not submit its compliance report before March 1 2010 (ie, after the 60 days granted by the panel). The panel noted that this was the first time that the ministry had given notice of its intention to disregard an order from a North American Free Trade Agreement panel.

For further information on this topic please contact Adrián Vazquez, Horacio A López-Portillo or Veronica Vázquez Bravo at Vázquez Tercero y Asociados by telephone (+52 55 5534 36 36), fax (+52 55 5534 91 95) or email (adrian@vazqueztercero.com, horacio@vazqueztercero.com or veronica@vazqueztercero.com).

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