WTO Dispute Panel Says Dominican Republic Violated Trading Rules in Setting AD Duties on Costa Rica
The Dominican Republic violated its World Trade Organization commitments under the Anti-Dumping Agreement when imposing duties on corrugated steel bars from Costa Rica, a World Trade Organization dispute panel said in a July 27 report. The panel said the Dominican Republic's Regulatory Commission on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures "failed to comply with the requirement" to make the comparison between the export price and normal value with sales made at "nearly as possible the same time."
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The panel added that the Dominican Republic violated the Anti-Dumping Agreement when it failed to properly consider whether prices were lower than unit costs at the time of the sale when using an annual weighted average cost. As for Costa Rica's claims of injury, the panel said the Dominican Republic violated the agreement as well. For instance, the Dominican Republic violated the deal when it "considered whether price undercutting was 'significant' and whether it was the 'effect of' the dumped imports."
The panel report also sided with Costa Rica regarding its claims on the Dominican Republic's provision of the full text of the application, though the panel took the Dominican Republic's side with respect to the claims on the opportunity to see nonconfidential information used by the Dominican Republic, the confidential treatment granted by the Dominican Republic to particular information and information to be verified.