China Improves Advice to Enterprises on Anti-dumping

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 06, 2002

China Improves Advice to Enterprises on Anti-dumping

The Chinese government is improving advice to export-oriented enterprises to better protect them in the rising number of anti-dumping allegations, the result of lower tariffs and looser quotas after China's WTO accession and the rising trend of protectionism.

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The Chinese government is improving advice to export-oriented enterprises to better protect them in the rising number of anti-dumping allegations.

The number of anti-dumping cases against Chinese enterprises was the result of lower tariffs and looser quotas after China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the rising trend of protectionism, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC).

Chinese enterprises were exposed to anti-dumping litigation because of the lack of information about trade policies of foreign countries, said MOFTEC officials.

They pointed out that anti-dumping cases require a long procedure of legal investigation and could be predicted and pre-empted.

They said the government should play a fundamental role in developing a warning system and an information channel for Chinese enterprises.

An effective warning system could include market investigation, policy study and communication between the government and enterprises.

Zhejiang province in east China boasts the fastest growth rate of exports in China. The foreign trade bureau of the provincial government sets up an independent department to study foreign anti-dumping laws and regulations. The fair trade department also offers professional advice to local enterprises and has helped set up a fund for filing against anti-dumping litigation.

More Chinese enterprises learned to respond to charges

China suffers more than most nations from protectionism under the guise of anti-dumping. From August 1978 to the end of 2001, over 30 countries and regions have charged Chinese enterprises with dumping in more than 480 cases. The number of cases so far this year account for 13.3 per cent of the world total, a sharp increase from 3.6 per cent in the 1980s. The ratio is much higher than China's proportion in the total volume of global trade.

Before the 1990s, Chinese enterprises seldom responded to anti-dumping charges raised by foreign companies. Since 1994, the MOFTEC has encouraged Chinese enterprises to protect their legitimate interests by actively answering anti-dumping litigation. More Chinese enterprises have responded to foreign charges. In the past ten years, enterprises from Zhejiang have all responded to charges.

It was reported Monday that two Chinese steel firms, the Ma'anshan Iron & Steel Company and the Weifang Steel Tube Company, have been cleared by the U.S. Department of Commerce in its anti-dumping investigation.

In its preliminary probe, the U.S. authority had ordered that a 153 per cent anti-dumping tariff be imposed on products of Ma' anshan Iron & Steel Company exported to the U.S..

The ruling means that the two firms will face no restrictions in exports to the U.S. and will be exempt from punitive anti-dumping tariffs, according to O'Melveny & Myers LLP, U.S. law firm and agent of the Chinese firms.

Patric Norton, head of the U.S. law firm's Shanghai office, was quoted as saying that the experience of the two firms shows that more Chinese companies should feel encouraged to act against foreign anti-dumping accusations.

Commercial chambers in China state that the Chinese enterprises should know how to avoid trade friction as well as how to deal with it under the WTO umbrella.

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