Issues covered by the WTO’s committees and agreements

ANTI-DUMPING: AGREEMENT


Notifications under the agreement on implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994

(The Anti-dumping Agreement)

The Anti-Dumping Agreement (“AD Agreement”) obliges WTO Members to submit several types of notification to the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices (“ADP Committee”). Except where a notifying Member specifically requests the contrary, all notifications are issued as unrestricted documents and are fully accessible to the public. These notifications are available from Documents Online. In order to assist the public in identifying and retrieving these documents, the types of notifications submitted to the ADP Committee and the document series in which they can be found are described below.
 
  

Notifications of Anti-Dumping legislation and/or regulations 

Article 18.5 of the AD Agreement requires Members to notify their domestic laws and/or regulations relating to anti-dumping to the ADP Committee. Members that have no anti-dumping laws or regulations should notify that fact. These notifications are in the form of the full texts of the relevant laws and/or regulations, and are available in each of the three WTO languages (English, French, and Spanish). The notifications can be found in document series G/ADP/N/1/…, with the notifying Member identified at the end of the symbol by its three-letter ISO country code, followed by a number. As there may be corrections, revisions, and/or supplements to any given notification, the complete notification of a Member may include several documents with the same number, followed by additional letters to indicate the type of additional document in question. Thus, for example, the original legislation notification of Japan would be designated G/ADP/N/1/JPN/1. A correction to that document would be designated G/ADP/N/1/JPN/1/Corr.1. A supplemental notification, for instance of additional regulations or administrative provisions, would be designated G/ADP/N/1/JPN/1/Suppl.1. If a new legislation or regulation, replacing that originally notified, were to be submitted, the next higher number in sequence would be used to identify the notification as replacing all previous notifications by that Member. Thus, if Japan were to submit a notification of a new legislation, it would be designated G/ADP/N/1/JPN/2. Corrections, revisions, and supplements to the new notification would be numbered as described above. Thus, the document with the highest number, and any corrections, supplements, or revisions to that document, will contain the latest full text notification of a Member's anti-dumping legislation and/or regulations.

Notifications of legislation by Members are subject to review in the ADP Committee. Such review is reflected in written questions and answers, which can be found in the document series G/ADP/Q1/…, again followed by the three-letter ISO country code and a number indicating the sequence in which the documents were issued. These documents are initially issued as restricted, but are derestricted and become fully available to the public six months after circulation, unless a Member specifically requests the contrary. Thus, for example, questions and answers regarding the notification of legislation of Japan would be designated G/ADP/Q1/JPN/1, G/ADP/Q1/JPN/2, and so on.
 
  

Notifications of Anti-Dumping Actions 

Article 16.4 requires Members to submit a report of all anti-dumping actions they have taken, as well as a list of all anti-dumping measures in force, twice a year. These reports are normally submitted in February, covering the period 1 July through 31 December of the previous calendar year, and in August, covering the period 1 January through 30 June of the current calendar year. A format for these reports, with explanations, can be found in document G/ADP/1. Members who have taken no actions are nonetheless required to make a notification, but such nil notifications are frequently in the form of a letter rather than the following the format. Such nil notifications are generally not circulated as documents, but are identified in the summary (see below).

Semi-annual reports for each six-month period have their own document number, with each Member's report identified with its three-letter ISO country code. For example, the semi-annual reports for the first half of 1998 can be found in document series G/ADP/N/41…. Thus, the semi-annual report of Canada for that period would be designated G/ADP/N/41/CAN. A summary of the status of semi-annual reports for that period, setting forth which Members notified actions taken, which Members notified no actions taken, and which Members have not yet submitted a semi-annual report, would be found in document G/ADP/N/41/Add.1. Updates to the summary, designated by higher numbers in sequence, are generally issued twice a year, in April and October. Thus, the addendum document with the highest number will contain the most recent information as to the status of these notifications.
 
  

Notifications of Preliminary and Final Actions 

Article 16.4 requires Members to report without delay all preliminary or final actions taken. There is no specific format for these notifications. The notifications often are made by submitting the full text of a Member's public notice regarding the action, but in any event should contain the information described in the guidelines adopted by the ADP Committee, which can be found in document G/ADP/2. A list of such notifications submitted to the ADP Committee is circulated approximately monthly as a document in the G/ADP/N… series. The actual notifications are frequently lengthy and are thus not circulated in full, although they are made available at the WTO Secretariat for consultation by interested delegations.
 
  

Notifications of Competent Authorities 

Article 16.5 requires Members to notify the ADP Committee which of its authorities are competent to initiate and conduct anti-dumping investigations. The list of such notifications includes addresses and contact numbers. It is periodically updated, and can be found in document G/ADP/N/14/Add…. The addendum document with the highest number will contain the most recent information.