AFRICAN EXPERTS MEETING AD AGREEMENT

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AFRICAN EXPERTS MEETING AD AGREEMENT
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• ANTI-DUMPING
• HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
• GATT ARTICLE VI 1947
• REVIEW KENNEDY ROUND 1963
• THE ICC PROPOSALS need to conform domestic
  legn. to Art. VI
• and to review GATT Article VI during the Round
• 1st July, 1968 - Agreement on the
  Implementation of GATT Article VI , a
  plurilateral code.

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• TOKYO ROUND - NEW ISSUES and  clarification 
  of some terms.
• Others -
• Issues of Standing,
• Material injury,
• Price undertaking etc.
• Provision of SDT for DCs.

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• Tokyo Code on Anti-Dumping
• Article 13 Provision of SDT for DCs
• Very few DCs signed onto the Agreement
• NB. Until the Uruguay Round when the Single
  Undertaking was invoked, the only African
  Countries that took very active part in the
  negotiations and therefore acquired a lot of
  experience in the application of the Anti-Dumpig
  measures were Egypt and S. Africa.
• URUGUAY Round
• Concerns raised by DCs AD Code in its substance
  or interpretation failed to take account of
  particular interests of DCs.

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• Mandate during UR
• Improve, Clarify or expand and disciplines
  under Agreements negotiated during the Tokyo
  Round of MTNs
• URUGUAY ROUND
• Another Agreement on Implementation of Article VI

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• Issue of clarity still persist
• SDT not legally binding
• Some WTO Panel Reports support for uncertainty in
  provisions
• US-Steel Plates case ( WT/DS 206/R para. 7-110 )
• Held  Members cannot be expected to comply with
  an obligation whose parameters are entirely
  undefined.

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• DDA Mandate para. 28
• Clarify and improve disciplines
• Taking into account the needs of developing and
  LDC participants.

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• THE AFRICAN POSITION
• Paper submitted by Kenya Delegation on behalf of
  the African Group
• Current position of the African Group
• Draft Text TN/RL/GEN/154 submitted along the
  lines of Document TN/RL/GEN/143
• Groups submission 3 categories
• i. Secure improvements to Art. 15 on SDT
• ii. Governments role in assisting local
  industry have access to relevant data on dumped
  imports

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• iii. Technical Assistance and Capacity building
• NB. Article 15 is no different from Art. 13 of
  the Tokyo Code.
• Broad outline of position
• Constructive remedies in Article 15 no guide in
  terms of clarification

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• Proposals of an illustrative list of Constructive
  remedies
• i. Price undertaking
• ii. Application of lesser duty
• iii. Non-application, including suspension or
  termination of investigations
• iv. Longer time frame to respond to inquiries

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• Mandatory pre-initiation consultations by
  developed countries.
• ( along the lines provided in the ASCM ) aims
  at avoiding unwarranted investigations against
  DCs imports a flexibilty to DCs.

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• Governments role (Surveillance Mechanism)
• i. Industry associations in DCs are not very well
  organised
• May not have access to some vital
  information/data ( export prices )
• Need for Government to assist in providing
  relevant data.

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• Governments role
• - Surveillance Mechanism to be adopted
  through automatic import licensing or
• - Under any existing WTO Agreement capable of
  serving similar function
• Objective - serving as an early warning system
  / an alert mechanism

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• Technical Assistance
• Paragraph 38 - an integral part of the DDA
  assist DCs / LDCs adjust to WTO rules, implement
  obligations and exercice their rights of
  membership, including drawing on the benefits of
  an open, rules-based multilateral trading system.
  
• TACB - areas include.
• Establishment and strengthening of national
  legal institutional framework
• Building and enhancing technical capacity of
  officials of investigations authority
• Establishment of surveillance mechanism
• NB. Illustrative List only

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• Other Areas
• - De minimis - threshold should raised from
  current level of 2 to 5.
• once the de minimis level is raised, the less
  likely it would be for anti-dumping proceedings
  to continue and therefore provide some shelter
  for developing countries exports. NB No
  consensus yet as some delegations feel that such
  margin would benfit the larger DCs which are
  frequent users of the AD measures.
• Zeroing should be outlawed ( AB Reports )

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• Current flexibility low bindings to hike
  tariffs to counter dumped and subsidised imports
  would be erased by the current negotiations on
  bindings.
• Need to ensure that mandates are therefore
  pursued to achieve development agenda.
• Need for African countries to organise local
  industry effectively.

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