The Agreement on Implementation of Article 6 ("Anti-Dumping"
Agreement) of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) took effect with establishment of the World Trade
Organization on January 1, 1995. The Anti-Dumping Agreement
clarifies and expands Article 6, and the two operate together.
The GATT allowed countries to impose antidumping duties to
restrict entry of products of one country introduced into the
commerce of another country at less than their fair normal value.
Normal value is defined in the Anti-Dumping Agreement as the
exporter's home market price. If such a price is not available, or
if the price does not allow for a representative comparison, normal
value may be established by 1) using the price for the product when
exported to a third country or 2) computing a price based on cost
of production for the product, taking into account additional
marketing expenses and profits-the "constructed value" method.
The Anti-Dumping Agreement allows countries to act in a way that
would normally violate GATT principles of binding a tariff and not
discriminating against trading partners-typically anti-dumping
actions are directed against individual firms from a particular
exporting country. In order to levy an anti-dumping duty, the
government of the importing country has to prove that dumping is
taking place, calculate the extent of dumping, and show that the
dumping is causing injury to the domestic industry. If a dumping
investigation results in the imposition of an anti-dumping duty,
the exporting firm can agree to raise its export prices (known as a
price undertaking) as an alternative to the imposition of an
anti-dumping duty.
The Anti-Dumping Agreement introduced several modifications to
previous GATT regulations:
- more detailed rules for calculating the amount of dumping,
- more detailed procedures for initiating and conducting
anti-dumping investigations,
- rules on the implementation and duration (normally 5 years) of
anti-dumping measures, and
- specific standards for dispute settlement panels to apply in
anti-dumping disputes.
Member countries must inform the Committee on Anti-Dumping
Practices about all preliminary and final anti-dumping actions they
take, promptly and in detail. They must report on all
investigations twice a year. When differences arise, members are
encouraged to consult each other. They can also use the
WTO's dispute settlement procedure.
Changes to the Anti-Dumping Agreement aimed at clarifying and
improving disciplines are being negotiated under the auspices of
the WTO Rules Negotiating Group. Members were
asked to indicate which provisions of the Anti-Dumping Agreement
they think should be the subject of clarification and improvement.
About 150 position papers were submitted to the WTO Committee on
Rules identifying parts of the Agreement that members believe
should be changed. These have formed the basis for
negotiations.
Dumping investigations in the agricultural sector steadily
increased after the Uruguay Round Agreement was implemented,
peaking in 2002 when 19 investigations were launched. They
have since steadily decreased, averaging less than five per year
since 2007.
Anti-dumping investigations by product
type