World Trade Organization General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Anti-dumping Law

Author: Li Wenxi
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-02-01
Features: In the autumn of 2003, my English-language book "Anti-Dumping Law of WTO/GATT and EC - Gradual Evolution of Anti-Dumping Law in Global Economic Integration" was published in Sweden, Europe. This book is a Chinese abridged version of the original English edition. The purpose of the English-language original was to address the attention, discussion, and criticism of anti-dumping law from countries and sectors around the world. By analyzing the historical evolution and current status of the anti-dumping law rules of the WTO/GATT, combined with the operation of the WTO/GATT anti-dumping law among its members, especially in the EC, it provides an in-depth understanding and evaluation of the WTO/GATT anti-dumping law, with the expectation that it will continue to evolve gradually within the existing WTO/GATT system to meet the needs of economic globalization. For centuries, a widely noted and highly controversial commercial practice has existed in international trade, commonly referred to as "dumping." Roughly speaking, the concept of dumping is quite simple. If the sale price of a product in a foreign market is lower than its sale price in the domestic market, it can be considered dumping. Essentially, dumping is the differential pricing behavior of production/export enterprises in different national markets for the same or similar products. The law governing dumping behavior emerged in the early 20th century. In 1904, as the world entered the 20th century, anti-dumping law was first introduced in Canada and gradually expanded to other countries. After World War II, with the adoption of Article 6 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947, international anti-dumping law was born. Over the past half-century, the anti-dumping rules in the 1947 GATT have evolved in the subsequent agreements: the 1967 Anti-Dumping Code, the 1979 Anti-Dumping Code, and the 1994 WTO/GATT Anti-Dumping Code, collectively known as the GATT Anti-Dumping Rules or international anti-dumping rules. The GATT anti-dumping rules were never intended to regulate corporate dumping behavior but rather to regulate the anti-dumping laws and practices of GATT contracting states. Since the introduction of the GATT anti-dumping rules, the anti-dumping rules of various countries have been formulated and revised within the framework of the GATT anti-dumping law, based on their own legal traditions and systems. To date, whether it is the GATT anti-dumping law or the anti-dumping laws of individual countries, they have gradually evolved into a complex legal system encompassing extensive legal rules and practices. In summary, the core of the current international and national anti-dumping rules consists of rules for determining dumping (dumping rules), rules for determining injury (injury rules), and anti-dumping procedural rules (procedural rules). From a historical perspective, dumping emerged after the Industrial Revolution, as the desire to expand markets from domestic to foreign grew stronger. Dumping originated in Europe and reached its scale during the wave of the second economic globalization in the late 19th century, leading to the emergence of domestic anti-dumping laws worldwide. In the 1990s, after the Cold War, the market economy model was favored by almost all countries, and the globalization of markets became a trend in economic life. The development of the world economy not only drew attention to the phenomenon of dumping but also sparked discussions about the role of anti-dumping law. In the discussions about anti-dumping law, two questions frequently arise. How does the current anti-dumping law operate within the WTO/GATT system and national/regional legal systems? How should the current anti-dumping law develop to meet the requirements of economic globalization? The answer to the first question forms the basis for addressing the second, while the answer to the second question will determine the direction and fate of anti-dumping law. There are various views and opinions on the role of anti-dumping law in economic globalization and its foreseeable future development. Many authors, especially free-trade-oriented economists, focus their research on revealing the adverse effects of anti-dumping law on intercountry trade. According to their view, in the tide of economic globalization, it is anti-dumping law, not the practice of dumping itself, that constitutes a problem in international trade. Therefore, these scholars advocate the immediate abolition of anti-dumping law or its replacement with a market-oriented law, such as international competition law. In the current global economic climate, the author of this book does not advocate radical reforms of anti-dumping law but pursues the goal of gradual evolution and improvement of the existing anti-dumping law. The establishment of this goal is primarily derived from an investigation and study of international anti-dumping law, specifically the GATT anti-dumping law, and the operation of national anti-dumping laws, especially in the EC, within the GATT system, as well as an objective assessment of the current global situation. The investigation and study of the existing anti-dumping law reveal the historical evolution of the law, the current status of each rule, especially its operation among WTO/GATT members, as well as the inherent flaws and loopholes in each rule that persist to this day. This provides direction for the evolution and improvement of the anti-dumping law rules if such changes are needed. The assessment of the current global situation indicates that, as long as countries remain separated by borders and the economy has not yet fully integrated, gradual evolution and improvement of the existing anti-dumping law are more beneficial than radical reforms for maintaining a stable global economic and trade order. To this end, this book not only discusses the legal mechanisms behind the formation of each rule of anti-dumping law but also sets goals for the gradual evolution and improvement of each rule. The fundamental premise for achieving the gradual evolution and improvement of anti-dumping law is that all trading countries in the world, regardless of their stage of economic development, are willing to regulate their trade relations and policies, including anti-dumping policies, according to the principles of the rule of law and seek continuous improvement of legal rules through multilateral trade negotiations in the form of international agreements. The author of this book believes that the gradual evolution and improvement of anti-dumping law are constructive rather than destructive, aligning with the interests of trading countries in the process of economic globalization and meeting its requirements. With the above goals and beliefs in mind, the author of this book presents this book to the readers in my country, hoping to spark interest in the in-depth study of WTO/GATT law among Chinese readers, ultimately enabling our rapidly developing trade nation to make its due contribution to the formulation and improvement of international economic and trade order rules. Some chapters of this book have been published in the China Trade News and the International Business News.