USTR Seeks Comment on China's WTO Complaint
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is seeking comments on China's request for the establishment of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel on countervailing duty determinations and orders by the Department of Commerce on imports of thermal paper and other products from China (see ITT's Online Archives 12062122).
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Products covered by the following investigations are affected: Lightweight Thermal Paper (C-570-921); Circular Welded Austenitic Stainless Pressure Pipe (C-570-931); Certain Circular Welded Carbon Quality Steel Line Pipe (C-570-936); Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts (C-570-938); Certain Tow Behind Lawn Groomers and Certain Parts Thereof (C-570-940); Certain Kitchen Appliance Shelving and Racks (C-570-942); Certain Oil Country Tubular Goods (C-570-944); Pre-Stressed Concrete Steel Wire Strand (C-570-946); Certain Steel Grating (C-570-948); Wire Decking (C-570-950); Certain Magnesia Carbon Bricks (C-570-955); Certain Seamless Carbon and Alloy Steel Standard Line and Pressure Pipe (C-570-957); Certain Coated Paper Suitable for High-Quality Print Graphics Using Sheet-Fed Presses (C-570-959); Drill Pipe (C-570-966); Aluminum Extrusions (C-570-968); Multilayered Wood Flooring (C-570-971); Certain Steel Wheels (C-570-974); Steel Wire (C-570-976); High Pressure Steel Cylinders (C-570-978); Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules (C-570-980); Utility Scale Wind Towers (C-570-982); and Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks (C-570-984).
China said the U.S. acted inconsistently with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in imposing the duties. China also states that it is requesting the establishment of a panel with respect to the "rebuttable presumption" established and applied by the DOC, under which the DOC considers majority government ownership of an enterprise sufficient to determine that an enterprise is a "public body" within the meaning of the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement.
The panel request is at www.wto.org in a document designated as WT/DS437/2.
Comments should be received by Nov. 2, at www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2012-0010. Further information: Ben Kostrzewa, 202-395-9579.