Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 41 • 28th November 2002
WTO: New Zealand Calls For Negotiations On Fishing Subsidies In 2003
During the meeting of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules on 25-27 November, New Zealand suggested establishing a negotiating platform on fisheries subsidies in 2003, an idea seen as "premature" by Japan. The Group furthermore discussed proposals on anti-dumping issues put forward by the "Friends of Anti-Dumping" and the US.
New Zealand looks ahead on fishing subsidies
New Zealand felt that the Negotiating Group had made real progress on understanding the fishing subsidies issue and proposed that a corresponding negotiating platform should be established in 2003, which would initially discuss the categorization or classification of fisheries subsidies. New Zealand’s idea was supported by Norway, who cited findings of an OECD report illustrating that fisheries management, research and development and environment, which should not be actionable, received 70 percent of sector subsidies while the remaining 30 percent was directed to financially supporting fishing fleets.
Japan rejected the proposal, stating that in their opinion it was premature and that the causal link between subsidies and fish stock depletion had yet to be proven. They also noted that the "Friends of Fish" still had not convinced the Group that the current Subsidies Agreement was insufficient for dealing with problems in the fishing sector.
The environmental group WWF urged governments to move forward with the actual fishing subsidies negotiations as they felt that the rationale for such action had already been given by the Doha mandate. They suggested that the Group should be discussing "forms of rules and institutional arrangements to discipline harmful fishing subsidies in the WTO." With regard to the OECD definition, the WWF felt it was too narrow for the present purpose, making it overly simplistic to classify 70 percent of subsidies as non-actionable.
"Friend’s of Anti-Dumping" Respond To US and EC Papers
During the meeting, Japan presented a general "concept paper" on behalf of the "Friends of Anti-Dumping" - including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, China, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, and Turkey - which responded to previous US and EC anti-dumping papers tabled during earlier meetings. The proposal noted that anti-dumping measures had often been used as an inappropriate and excessive protective mechanism to shield domestic industries from international competition instead of countering injurious dumping, despite efforts made during the Uruguay Round to improve such measures. The proposal called for dumping negotiations to clarify and improve rules in three areas, i.e. to prevent damaging and excessive anti-dumping actions; prevent excessive burdens on respondents; and increase transparency, fairness, and predictability of the overall system. Brazil presented another "Friends of Anti-Dumping" paper with eight suggestions on how to modify the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement. The Group has now made 31 suggestions for proposed changes.
While Canada supported much of the Friends’ paper, the US felt that the paper failed to include an important element of the Doha Mandate, namely to strengthen the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement. According to the EC, a number of points raised by the Group overlapped with their own piece, including the reduction of the cost of investigation.
US pushes "procedural fairness"
The US in their paper called for greater "procedural fairness" in the context of anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigations. They stressed the importance of making available all relevant information from national governments to interested parties and clarifying verification procedures used by authorities to submit information during investigation. The paper recognised that such procedural fairness was "central to the "rule of law" in the legal and administrative systems of civil societies to ensure a fair and open decision-making process."
Responding to the paper, Chile noted that a balance must be found to improve both procedural issues and substance. One Latin American official found the American paper to simply reflect practices currently used in the US. He went on to say, "it’s another case of them telling everyone to do as we do."
ICTSD reporting, "Japan, others unveil antidumping proposal at WTO," KYODO, 25 November 2002. "U.S. Puts Forward Proposal on WTO Disciplines for Antidumping Investigations," WTO REPORTER, 26 November 2002.