n a first, Vietnam has asked the WTO to intervene in its shrimp anti-dumping case with the US. (Photo: FIS)

WTO sought for help on US anti-dumping duties

VIET NAM
Thursday, April 22, 2010, 23:40 (GMT + 9)

Vietnam has requested that the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) institute a panel to resolve a disagreement on anti-dumping measures set by the US on certain Vietnamese shrimp.

This is the first time Vietnam has asked the WTO to intervene since it officially joined the organisation in 2007.

"We have a solid foundation to believe that we can pull it off, because many countries have filed similar cases on various products, and they have already succeeded," said Nguyen Chi Mai, director of the anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and trade safeguard of Competition Administration Department, under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The countries that have filed similar cases include Thailand, the European Union (EU), Japan, Canada, Ecuador and India, according to Mai, reports Vietnam Net.

Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN) Office, the WTO and other international organisations in Geneva Ambassador Vu Dung said at the DSB meeting on Tuesday that Vietnam made this move only after careful consideration and consultation with the US.

"The key issue involved in our request for a panel is the 'zeroing practice,' specifically zeroing in periodic reviews under US law. In our view, this issue was decided already by WTO panels and the Appellate Body on many cases," he said.

"Yet, the US has failed to implement the reports of the Appellate Body and has continued to apply zeroing in administrative reviews, 'including zeroing practices imposed on Vietnamese products,’" Dung added.

The term "zeroing" refers to treating all non-dumped sales as having a dumping margin of zero instead of a negative. This prevents non-dumped sales from counterbalancing dumped sales.

"Zeroing has proven to be an unfair practice for Vietnamese firms and it violates the rules of the WTO," Mai stressed.

Although the US had found no margins of dumping in the first, second or third reviews of the companies being investigated, Dung said, it went on assigning dumping margins to companies not investigated -- despite said companies’ requests to be looked into.

Both countries held consultations on the case on 23 March in Geneva hoping to reach a win-win solution, but their effort was unsuccessful.
"Consequently, Vietnam has no choice but to bring the issue to a panel," Dung affirmed.

However, "it is better for the two sides to continue negotiating and to reach a reasonable solution," Mai insisted.

The US imposed anti-dumping duties on shrimp imported from Vietnam in February 2005, with levies ranging from about 4 per cent to over 25 per cent.

Related article:

- Shrimp exporters take US to WTO

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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