A dispute panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a preliminary ruling on December 21 in Taiwan's favor regarding its complaint over Canada's anti-dumping duties on Taiwan carbon steel welded pieces, the Executive Yuan's Office of Trade Negotiations said today.
The ruling, which came more than a year after the Taiwan government filed a complaint, found that Canada's anti-dumping measures were improper and that Canadian legislation had contravened WTO regulations, which means Canada must amend its laws. The panel report was officially circulated to WTO members yesterday, the Office of Trade Negotiations said.
According to the Office of Trade Negotiations, over the past few years Taiwan has exported an average of NT$450 billion (US$14.17 billion) in steel products, with the Canadian market absorbing about NT$10 billion (US$314.86 million). Canada's arbitrary anti-dumping investigations and measures have impacted Taiwan steel products, and if other countries follow suit, Taiwan's steel industry will be devastated. The Taiwan government therefore filed a complaint with the WTO to fight for Taiwanese exporters' legal rights and defend them against foreign governments' unfair anti-dumping measures.
The case marked the fourth time since Taiwan acceded to the global trade body in 2001 that the government has brought a trade dispute to the WTO in a bid to defend Taiwanese exporters. In its complaint, Taiwan condemned Canada's arbitrary decisions on anti-dumping investigations and duties, which have damaged Taiwanese exporters' rights and businesses.
The Office of Trade Negotiations summarized Taiwan's claims as follows:
1. International market prices are subject to reasonable fluctuation. Any fluctuation within a 2 percent range should be considered a reasonable transaction, and therefore not subject to anti-dumping duties. But after investigating the relevant Taiwan enterprises, Canada still imposed a 0.4 percent anti-dumping duty on one Taiwan exporter, and a 0.005 percent anti-dumping duty on another, and persisted in doing so in contravention of WTO regulations.
2. In addition to the anti-dumping duties above, when the two Taiwan vendors cited above wanted to produce products with new specifications, Canada used the highest valuation method to impose the maximum anti-dumping duty rate of 54.2 percent on those new products, an arbitrary and unreasonable course of action that is a serious breach of the WTO agreement.
3. Part of the reason that Canada acted unreasonably is due to flaws in its anti-dumping legislation, flaws which have led to a series of mistakes by its anti-dumping investigation body. This claim was also upheld by the WTO panel, which ruled that Canada shall amend its laws.
After WTO members are notified of this ruling, Canada has 60 days to make an appeal before the WTO dispute settlement mechanism makes the ruling final. The case is expected to conclude by mid-2017, the Office of Trade Negotiations said, emphasizing that they are confident that the WTO will again uphold Taiwan's claims and find Canada in violation of agreements under the WTO. Based on the ruling, Taiwan will demand that Canada rectify its anti-dumping investigations and imposition of duties, as well as amend its laws, so that it will not make the same mistakes regarding other anti-dumping investigations, and restore the legal rights and business opportunities of Taiwanese exporters.