On 23 April 2012, the Committee on Anti-Dumping (“AD”) Practices of the WTO conducted review of 30 semi-annual reports of anti-dumping actions taken during the second half of 2011.

In the review, the following concerns were raised:

• Japan’s complaint on Australia’s AD duty on products from Japan that had been in place for 20 years;

• While Japan welcomed the United States’ revocation of AD duty on steel plate from Japan early this year, it continued to be concerned about four US measures on Japanese products that were more than 20 years old. The US explained that it was because of the lack of participation of Japanese companies in US sunset reviews. However, Japan replied that there was little interest from Japanese companies because they believe there was little chance that the measures would be allowed to lapse.

• Turkey’s concerns about:

1. Brazil’s on-going investigation on viscose yarn from Turkey,
2. The need for the Dominican Republic to revoke its AD measures on steel rods and beams from Turkey due to deficiencies in the investigation,
3. India’s AD measure on soda ash from Turkey.
4. Ukraine’s investigation on float glass from Turkey, and urged for termination of the AD measure.

• The US’ concerns about:

1. China’s AD actions, particularly last December through imposition of AD measures on imports of approximately US$3 billion of US automobiles. Upon this concern, China responded that the duties were because imports were rising rapidly and per-unit price was going down.
2. Dumping margin calculations by the Mexican authorities on chicken legs and thighs from the US.

• Japan’s and the EU’s concerns about China’s AD investigations on photographic paper and paper board, and on certain high performance stainless steel seamless tubes. On the photographic paper, China argued that its investigation was fair and the final determination would be based on facts.

• China’s concerns about:

1. EU’s 20 years AD duty on bicycles from China that is allegedly a case of overprotection. Moreover, China’s bicycle exports to the EU had decreased considerably.
2. EU’s AD investigations on ironing board that is allegedly targeting only one Chinese company, that violates the WTO Agreement.
3. Mexico’s AD investigations on graphite electrodes and coaxial cables.

• Norway’s concern of India’s first AD action on caustic soda from Norway, in which Norway argued that Norwegian companies did not export the product to India during the period of investigation.

The Committee also reviewed notifications of AD legislations from Australia, India, the US, and Ecuador, as well as notification on preliminary and final AD actions submitted by 18 members.

The Committee also reported that the Working Group on Implementation and the Informal Group on Anti-Circumvention had a good discussion on three new papers, namely 1) Article 3.5 “Other Known Causes of Injury, 2) Article 11.3 “Sunset Reviews”, and 3) Article 5.3 “Accuracy and Adequacy Test”.

The new Committee Chairman is Mr. Shai Moses (Israel), replacing his predecessor, Mr. Subhas Gujadhur (Mauritius).