Anti-dumping, subsidies, safeguards
The Anti-Dumping Investigation
Once the decision to initiate an investigation has been taken and the required public notice has been given the formal investigation process starts.
Defining subsidies
At the origins of the GATT little attention was given to the trade impact of subsidies. However contracting parties soon appreciated the need to deal with subsidies in order to secure the value of their agreed tariff concessions. A country can undermine its market access commitments by providing subsidies to import-competing industries. In addition subsidies given to competing exporters in third countries can divert trade away from a country that had relied on negotiated market access to another market. These concerns led to the development of more stringent disciplines on subsidies than those initially provided for under the GATT (1947). A major step was the negotiation of the plurilateral “Subsidies Code” during the Tokyo Round and thereafter of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) and the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA).
A Handbook on Anti-Dumping Investigations
The subject of anti-dumping procedures has received growing attention in international trade policy and has become a source of tension between countries. This handbook covers the major areas arising in anti-dumping investigations as embodied in the relevant WTO provisions providing an exposition of well-sourced information explanations and guidance for grasping the intricacies of anti-dumping proceedings. Beginning with a chronicle of an anti-dumping investigation the book proceeds to consider the crucial issues involved: calculation of dumping margins and determinations of injury and causation. Well structured and easy to follow the handbook is designed to assist in a practical way investigators delegated the authority to conduct the required investigation. Clearly presented and informative this book will also interest government officials involved in international trade policy importing and exporting enterprises affected by anti-dumping investigations and their representatives including private legal practitioners and consultants and academic readers concerned with international trade issues.
The incidence of subsidies
This Section provides an overview of the use of subsidies both at the global level and at different levels of geographical and sectoral disaggregation. Given the quantity and quality of the available data it is not possible to provide a comprehensive and systematic picture of the incidence of subsidies.
Form and Content of Questionnaires
The timetable for completing an entire anti-dumping investigation is short. If the investigation does not proceed in a rapid and orderly manner it can become very difficult for investigating authorities to meet necessary internal deadlines to ensure that the ultimate deadlines are met. Thus the investigating authorities should rapidly complete their review of the application and other sources of available information and immediately begin work on drafting the questionnaires to be transmitted to each of the industry segments.
Prefacio
El Informe sobre el Comercio Mundial 2006 es el cuarto de una serie iniciada en 2002. Como en los años anteriores el presente Informe se ocupa de un tema actual de política comercial. Este año hemos examinado las subvenciones. La contribución que esperamos aportar con estos informes consiste en ayudar a comprender las complejas cuestiones a que hacen frente los gobiernos en materia de políticas comerciales. No se trata primordialmente de un informe preceptivo sino más bien de una invitación a realizar una reflexión más profunda y se dirige no sólo a los responsables de la formulación de políticas sino también al público que ellos representan y a las personas y las organizaciones que tratan activamente de influir en las políticas gubernamentales. Además del tema central el Informe también examina brevemente la reciente evolución del comercio y analiza algunas características destacadas de los últimos acontecimientos comerciales o de algún aspecto particular del comercio. Este año el Informe examina brevemente el comercio de los textiles y el vestido las corrientes de ingresos internacionales y de pagos de regalías y derechos de licencia las tendencias del comercio de los países menos adelantados y las repercusiones de los desastres naturales y los actos terroristas en las corrientes del comercio internacional.
Incidence des subventions
La présente section donne une vue d’ensemble de l’utilisation des subventions tant au niveau mondial qu’à différents niveaux de désagrégation géographique et sectorielle. Étant donné la quantité et la qualité des données disponibles il n’est pas possible de présenter un tableau complet et systématique de l’incidence des subventions.
Selected trade developments and issues
The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) came to an end on 1 January 2005. Much interest not to mention concern was expressed about the likely impact on production and trade of the removal of quota restrictions. It was apparent to most observers that there would be winners and losers from the additional liberalization. It is too early to say how the market will look beyond the relatively short period upon which we can base our observations but this note looks at what we know so far about the pattern of trade that has emerged since the quantitative restrictions were (largely) removed. A caveat is in order here: there can be little doubt that the termination of the AT C affected the patterns of trade observed in 2005 but we have not developed a rigorous analytical approach to the question of what other factors might also influence the pattern of trade flows.