WTO Adopts Ruling on Electrical Steel

At a meeting on 16 November 2012, the Dispute Settlement Body adopted the Appellate Body Report and the Panel Report, as upheld by the Appellate Body Report, pertaining to the dispute over anti-dumping duties applied by China on grain oriented flat-rolled electric steel from the United States.

DS414: China - Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties on Grain Oriented Flat-Rolled Electric Steel from the United States

The United States welcomed the adoption of the Panel Report and Appellate Body Report which had found serious and pervasive deficiencies with China’s measures. The US highlighted the key findings of the Panel, which had found China in breach of several provisions of the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement and the Anti-Dumping Agreement. The US welcomed the fact that the Appellate Body upheld the Panel’s findings, in particular the findings that China’s price effects analysis was flawed, that China failed to disclose essential facts and that China failed to explain its determination. The US noted that the problems identified in this dispute were also present in other investigations that were also subject to dispute settlement.

China noted that the anti-dumping margins determined by its investigating authority had been upheld. While appreciating the need for the Appellate Body to clarify certain issues concerning an authority’s findings of price effects, China had some concerns regarding other aspects of the Appellate Body’s review of the Panel Report. In its view, it was important that the Appellate Body pay particular attention to the findings of the authority, and how the Panel viewed those findings. China believed that, like the Panel, the Appellate Body should base its findings and conclusions on the determination of the authority, not on a characterisation of that determination. Despite not agreeing with all the findings of the Appellate Body and the Panel, China said it respected the conclusions and would work towards implementing the findings.