Anti-dumping and Subsidy Issues in Agricultural Trade Presentation - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Anti-dumping and Subsidy Issues in Agricultural Trade

Presentation by G. Tereposky Thomas & Partners CATPRN Workshop 6 March 2005

Overview of Presentation

1.

Introduction

2.

What is “dumping”?

3.

What is “anti-dumping”?

4.

What is a “subsidy”?

5.

What is the difference between between subsidy disciplines and “countervailing measures”?

6.

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

Overview of Presentation

6.

Example of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

7.

Example of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

8.

Negotiating dynamics - What makes economic sense is not always negotiable

Introduction

Anti-dumping and subsidy issues are

important to countries such as Canada which have a small domestic market and are export-

• riented

The issues are complex Established regimes are in place to address

these issues - future developments will primarily involve “fine-tuning” these regimes:

Introduction

Anti-dumping Agreement (WTO) Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing

Measures (WTO)

Agreement on Agriculture (WTO) GATT 1994 (WTO)

Introduction

There is a lot that could be “fine tuned” – see

WTO doc TN/RL/W/143, 22 Aug 03 (160 pages of dumping and subsidy issues being discussed in the WTO)

My objective today is to give you an overview

• f the regimes and a few examples of issues

that arise in the agriculture sector

What is “Dumping”?

At its simplest level, “dumping” is price

discrimination between domestic and export markets

If prices of goods sold in export markets

(“export price”) are lower than comparable prices in the domestic market of the exporter (“normal value”), dumping exists

Detailed rules on how to determine dumping

are set out in Article 2 of the Anti-dumping Agreement

What is “anti-dumping”?

“Anti-dumping” refers to measures taken by

an importing country to counteract dumping– generally duties to offset the margin of dumping

Under existing international rules, anti-

dumping measures can be applied only in specific circumstances which include the existence of “material injury” to a domestic industry that is caused by dumped imports

What is “anti-dumping”?

Anti-dumping issues and potential subject

matter for negotiation arise throughout the anti-dumping process

What is “anti-dumping”?

Stage #1 – Initiation Stage #2 – Preliminary Determinations of

Dumping and Injury

Stage #3 – Final Determination of Dumping Stage #4 – Final Determination of Injury Stage #5 – Duty administration

What is “anti-dumping”?

From an economic research perspective, likely

focal points are the meaning and determination of:

“dumping” “causation” “injury”

I will provide some examples later in my

presentation

What is a “subsidy”?

A measure that is a “subsidy” in economic

terms is not necessarily a “subsidy” in legal terms

Defined in the Agreement on Subsidies and

Countervailing Measures and in the Agreement on Agriculture

In the case of agricultural subsidies, the

starting point is always the Agreement on Agriculture

What is a “subsidy”?

“Domestic support” = support provided for an

agricultural product in favour of the producers of the basic agricultural product or non-product-specific support provided in favour of agricultural producers in general,

• ther than support provided under

programmes that qualify as exempt from reduction under Annex 2

What is a “subsidy”?

Annex 2 “green box” subsidies - no, or at

most minimal, trade-distorting effects or effects on production

“Export subsidies” - subsidies contingent

upon export performance, including the export subsidies listed in Article 9 of the Agreement

What is a “subsidy”?

• Article 9 -

Export Subsidies subject to reduction commitments

a) the provision by governments or their

agencies

• f

direct subsidies, including payments-in-kind

b) the

sale

• r

disposal for export by governments or their agencies of non- commercial stocks of agricultural products at a price lower than the comparable price charged for the like product to buyers in the domestic market

What is a “subsidy”?

c)

payments on the export of an agricultural product that are financed by virtue of governmental action, whether or not a charge on the public account is involved, including payments that are financed from the proceeds of a levy imposed on the agricultural product concerned or on an agricultural product from which the exported product is derived

What is a “subsidy”?

d)

the provision of subsidies to reduce the costs of marketing exports of agricultural products (other than widely available export promotion and advisory services) including handling, upgrading and other processing costs, and the costs of international transport and freight

What is a “subsidy”?

e)

internal transport and freight charges on export shipments, provided or mandated by governments, on terms more favourable than for domestic shipments

f)

subsidies on agricultural products contingent on their incorporation in exported products

What is a “subsidy”?

Agreement on Subsidies and

Countervailing Measures – Article 1 (definition of a subsidy)

What is a “subsidy”?

For the purpose of this Agreement, a subsidy shall be deemed to exist if: (a)(1) there is a financial contribution by a government

• r any public body within the territory of a Member (referred to

in this Agreement as "government"), i.e. where: (i) a government practice involves a direct transfer of funds (e.g. grants, loans, and equity infusion), potential direct transfers of funds or liabilities (e.g. loan guarantees); (ii) government revenue that is otherwise due is foregone or not collected (e.g. fiscal incentives such as tax credits);

What is a “subsidy”?

(iii) a government provides goods or services other than general infrastructure, or purchases goods; (iv) a government makes payments to a funding mechanism, or entrusts or directs a private body to carry out

• ne or more of the type of functions illustrated in (i) to (iii)

above which would normally be vested in the government and the practice, in no real sense, differs from practices normally followed by governments;

• r

(a)(2) there is any form of income or price support in the sense of Article XVI of GATT 1994;

What is a “subsidy”?

and (b) a benefit is thereby conferred

What is the difference between between subsidy disciplines and “countervailing measures”?

Subsidy “disciplines” are obligations under

international trade agreements that prohibit

• r limit subsidies

Agreement on Agriculture – Domestic

support and export subsidy reduction commitments

SCM Agreement – Prohibited subsidy and

serious prejudice provisions

What is the difference between between subsidy disciplines and “countervailing measures”?

Countervailing measures are taken by

importing countries and usually involve a duty (i.e., countervailing duty) that is applied against subsidized imports to offset subsidization

Countervailing measures can be imposed only

in certain circumstances include the existence

• f “material injury” to a domestic industry

that is caused by dumped imports

What is the difference between between subsidy disciplines and “countervailing measures”?

Like anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures involve a staged procedure:

Stage #1 – Initiation Stage #2 – Preliminary Determinations of

Subsidy and Injury

Stage #3 – Final Determination of Subsidy Stage #4 – Final Determination of Injury Stage #5 – Duty administration

What is the difference between between subsidy disciplines and “countervailing measures”?

From an economic research perspective, likely

focal points are:

meaning of “subsidy” new or refined subsidy disciplines “causation” “injury”

I will provide some examples later in my

presentation

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

Certain anti-dumping and subsidy issues

have been addressed in a limited manner at the regional level

NAFTA – Chapter 19 binational panel

review

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

Canada – Chile FTA: Reciprocal Exemption from the Application of Anti- dumping

Subject to Article M-03, as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement each Party agrees not to apply its domestic anti- dumping law to goods of the other Party. Specifically:

a)

neither Party shall initiate any anti-dumping investigations or reviews with respect to goods of the other Party;

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

b)

each Party shall terminate any ongoing anti-dumping investigations or inquiries in respect of such goods;

c)

neither Party shall impose new anti-dumping duties or other measures in respect of such goods; and

d)

each Party shall revoke all existing orders levying anti- dumping duties in respect of such goods.

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

Article M-03: Phase-in Provisions Article M-01 applies to all goods of the other Party as of:

(a) the date on which the tariff of both Parties is eliminated at the subheading level; or (b) January 1, 2003,

whichever comes first.

Are anti-dumping and subsidy issues best addressed at the regional trade agreement level or the multilateral level?

The detailed rules governing anti-dumping

and subsidies are established at the multilateral level, namely the WTO

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

“Below cost” domestic sales – such

sales are not in “the ordinary course of trade” and in certain circumstances can be disregarded

Effect is to increase average selling

price, therefore normal value, and therefore margin of dumping during period of investigation

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector Anti-dumping Agreement, Art. 2.2.1:

May be disregarded in determining normal if

sales are made within an extended period of time in substantial quantities and are at prices which do not provide for the recovery

• f all costs within a reasonable period of time

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

extended period of time should normally be

• ne year but shall in no case be less than six

months

made in substantial quantities when:

weighted average selling price of the transactions

under consideration is below the weighted average per unit costs, or

volume of sales below per unit costs represents

not less than 20 per cent of the volume sold in transactions under consideration

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

“Reasonable period” is not defined

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Do these thresholds make sense in the agricultural context:

Where producers are typically "price takers" and

who usually have fixed costs that cannot be easily reduced over the short term when there is a decline in selling prices?

Where prices are cyclical? Where prices are often set regionally or globally?

Examples of anti-dumping issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

De minimis threshold – ADA, Article 5.8 - There shall be immediate termination in cases where the authorities determine that the margin of dumping is de minimis (less than 2 per cent), expressed as a percentage of the export price.

Does a 2% de minimis threshold make sense

in the agricultural context?

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

In the agricultural area, subsidy issues arises

primarily in the context of subsidy disciplines under the Agreement on Agriculture

Amber box domestic support is subject to

reduction commitments - levels in excess of commitments are prohibited

Blue box for subsidies that are tied to

programs that limit production – no disciplines on these subsidies

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Green box subsidies – Annex 2 of the

Agreement on Agriculture- must not distort trade, or at most cause minimal distortion (paragraph 1) – must be government-funded (not by charging consumers higher prices) - must not involve price support

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Ongoing discussions on criteria for boxes and

applicable disciplines

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Canada – Dairy (WTO Appellate Body – Round #1)

• Involved the provision of milk at discounted prices to Canadian

processors to facilitate exports of their products. Challenged under Article 9.1(c) of the Agreement on Agriculture.

• Word "payments" in Article 9.1(c), denotes a transfer of

economic resources. "Payments" could be made in a form,

• ther than money, that confers value, such as by way of goods
• r services. A "payment" which does not take the form of

money is commonly referred to as a "payment in kind".

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

• The provision of milk at discounted prices to processors for

export under Special Classes 5(d) and 5(e) constitutes "payments", in a form other than money, within the meaning of Article 9.1(c).

• "Financed by virtue of governmental action" - appropriate to

look to the "governmental" involvement as whole and not just to the role of the provincial milk marketing boards. The functioning of the system depends on a complex regulatory web involving the CDC and the CMSMC, acting together with the provincial milk marketing boards. It is, therefore, the "action"

• f all these bodies together which must be examined.

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

• In the regulatory framework, "government agencies" stand so

completely between the producers of the milk and the processors or the exporters that we have no doubt that the transfer of resources takes place "by virtue of governmental action".

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Canada – Dairy (WTO Appellate Body – Round #2)

Canada eliminated the special discounted prices for

processors and replaced them with “Commericial Export Milk (CEM)”-- Canadian producers can sell any quantity of CEM to Canadian processors for export processing on terms and conditions freely negotiated between the producer and the processor.

Also found to be an export subsidy under Article

9.1(c).

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

Key to the finding was the determination of the

appropriate standard for assessing whether sales of CEM by producers involve "payments" under Article 9.1(c).

“Where the alleged payment is made by an

independent economic operator and where the domestic price is administered, we believe that the average total cost of production represents the appropriate standard for determining whether sales

• f CEM involve ‘payments’."

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector EC – Sugar (WTO Panel – Under appeal)

Involved exports of “C” sugar under the EU sugar

• program. C sugar is surplus sugar that does not

benefit from direct export subsidy payments. It cannot be sold in the EU market and must either be stored or exported. Most C sugar is exported.

Examples of subsidy issues that are relevant to the agricultural sector

• Panel finding: The cross-subsidization taking place through the

cumulative effect of various measures involved in the operation

• f the EC sugar regime, including high prices charged to

domestic consumers, enables C sugar producers to produce and sell C sugar. In the Panel's view, there is a payment in the form

• f transfers of financial resources from the high revenues

resulting from sales of A and B sugar, for the export production

• f C sugar, within the meaning of Article 9.1(c) of the

Agreement on Agriculture.

Negotiating dynamics - What makes economic sense is not always negotiable

Entrenched regimes and interests make it

difficult to negotiate changes, even if they make sense from an economic perspective

Domestic governments respond to domestic

pressure

Countries have varying levels of leverage in

trade negotiations – on agriculture issues the US and EU essentially control the agenda