Antidumping Procedure of China
Contributed by Mr. DU Peng *
In the context of international trade competition, the domestically driven concern of importing countries is to protect their own industries from being swamped by cheaper imports. The concept of "fair trade" is focused on the idea that their local industries should be able to compete with imports on a "level playing field". Under the pressure from the domestic industries and the academic circle, the Chinese State Council revised the old Antidumping Regulation and enact several antidumping administrative rules. The present antidumping statutes have established a fairly complete legal basis of the Chinese antidumping system. In summary, the Chinese antidumping procedure is as follows:
- Applicants and Application of Complaints
- Preliminary and final investigation
- Termination of Investigation
- The application of complaint has been withdrawn by the applicant;
- The preliminary determination, as the result of the preliminary investigation, states that there exist no dumping and injury;
- The final determination, as the result of the final investigation, states that there exist no dumping and injury;
- The dumping margin or the import volume of the dumping product is too small to be countered.
- Review
The anti-dumping procedure commences when one or more applicants file an application of complaint with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation ("MOFTEC"). Only those domestic manufacturers who produce the product identical or similar to the import product may file such an application under the Antidumping Regulation.
Upon receipt of the application from the applicant, the MOFTEC exams the application and the evidence attached thereto. Then upon consultation with the State Economic and Trade Commission ("SETC"), the MOFTEC makes a determination on whether or not to start with an investigation of the case and gives notice thereof to the applicant, the known exporters and importers, the government of the exporting country and others who have an interest in the case.
The period of time for an anti-dumping investigation, which begins at the date of the announcement of the final determination, is 12 months. It can be, however, extended to 18 months under special circumstances.
The investigation is divided into two parts: one is an investigation into the dumping and the dumping margin, the other is an investigation into the injury and the extent of the injury. The former will be carried out by the MOFTEC together with the General Administration of Customs ("GAC") while the latter by the SETC and certain other competent authority(ies) under the State Council. The MOFTEC and the SETC will respectively make the preliminary determinations in light of the results of the two parts of the investigation, and the MOFTEC will announce such determinations.
The investigations will consist of two stages: the first stage is preliminary investigation and the second is final investigation. While carrying out the investigation, the investigating authority may issue questionnaires to, and make sampling surveys of the interested parties. At the request of the interested parties, opportunities should be provided with to them so that they can present their positions. In the process of the investigation the applicant and the interested parties are allowed to look up the records of the case except of the confidential ones.
The investigation will be terminated after its initiation for the following reasons:
The announcement of such termination of investigation will be made by the MOFTEC.
Unfortunately, there is no provision on judicial review of the final determination on anti-dumping case under the Antidumping Regulation. This is indeed a gap that should be filled in the future. An administrative review procedure is, however, provided for under the Regulation
Applicable Laws (Chinese Version)