RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/ADP/W/425
17 April 2002
(02-2116)
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices
PARAGRAPH 7.4:  ANNUAL REVIEWS OF THE
ANTI-DUMPING AGREEMENT
Note by the Secretariat
1. At the informal meeting of the Committee held on 25 March 2002, Canada made a proposal
on this topic (G/ADP/W/421).  Specifically, Ca nada proposed that the Committee discuss the
objectives of regular reports and reviews, and determine the appropriate statistics to meet thoseobjectives.  The Committee would then ask the Secretariat to compile relevant statistics and make a
report to the Committee.  Once reviewed and adopted by the Committee, these statistics would then
be released, with whatever clarifications the Committee agrees is appropriate.  Canada also proposed
making a database containing information gathered from Members' semi-annual reports publicly
available through the WTO web-site. The Secretariat was asked to prepare a background noteaddressing what statistical information of this nature is currently available, and technical and practical
issues arising under Canada's proposal.
2.  As Members will recall, the Rules Division of the Secretariat maintains databases of the
information provided by Members in their semi-annual reports of anti-dumping and countervailing
activities.  These databases are internally accessible by Rules Division staff, which frequentlyresponds to questions concerning statistics from Members, public and private institutions, and the
general public.
1  The databases can be used to automatically compile information on the various
categories of information provided in semi-annual reports and generate tables.  This information can
be sorted by dates, by individual Members, and by various other criteria.  In addition, annual
information on anti-dumping actions by calendar years for the period 1995-2001 on initiations of
investigations and measures imposed, sorted by reporting Member, affected country, HS Section, and
development level, is available on the WTO web-site,http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/adp_e/adp_e.htm.
2
3. Statistics on anti-dumping activity are also repo rted in the Annual Report of the WTO, and the
Annual Report of the Committee to the Council for Trade in Goods.  The former is usually published
in May of each year, while the latter is issued in early November of each year.  Both contain
information on initiations, provisional and final measures and price undertakings, and measures inforce, for a 12-month period ending 30 June.
4. In November 2001, the Secretariat instituted a practice of issuing a press release containing
information on anti-dumping activity as reported by Members in their most recent semi-annual
reports, together with statistical tables.  It is the intention of the Secretariat to issue this press release
twice a year, in conjunction with the semi-annual meetings of the Committee, by which time mostMembers are expected to have submitted their semi-annual reports.  At the time each press release is
issued, it is the Secretariat's intention to update the statistical tables referred to in paragraph 2 above to
reflect the most recent information.
                                                     
1 The information in the databases is obtained from Members' semi-annual reports, which are
themselves publicly available on the WTO web-site, as they are unrestricted documents.
2 The information is also available on the corresponding French and Spanish pages of the WTO web-
site.   Corresponding tables regarding countervailing duty actions are available on the WTO web-site, athttp://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/scm_e/scm_e.htm, and on the corresponding French and Spanish pages.G/ADP/W/425
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5. Regarding the statistics specifically identified in the Canadian proposal as possibly appropriate to
be reported by the Committee, the Secretariat notes the following:
• The number of initiations in the most recent reporting period
- This information is to be provided in Members' semi-annual reports.
Information for the most recent 6-month period is contained in the press
release, is reported on a calendar-year basis on the WTO web-site, and isreported on a 12-month basis in the WTO Annual Report and the
Committee's annual report to the Council for Trade in Goods, most recently
in document G/L/495 (for the period 1 July 2000- 30 June 2001).
• The number of definitive measures applied during the most recent reporting period
- This information is to be provided in Members' semi-annual reports.
Information for the most recent 6-month period is contained in the press
release, is reported on a calendar-year basis on the WTO web-site, and is
reported on a 12-month basis in the WTO Annual Report and theCommittee's annual report to the Council for Trade in Goods, most recently
in document G/L/495 (for the period 1 July 2000- 30 June 2001).
• The number of measures terminated during the most recent reporting period
- This information is to be provided in a separate table as an Annex to
Members' semi-annual reports.
3  For reasons having principally to do with the
information submitted in semi-annual reports, this information cannot atpresent be entered into the Rules Division database so as to automatically
generate a reliable report of measures terminated during a given period.
There are significant inconsistencies in Members' reporting of this
information, and some Members do not provide the requested Annex table on
a regular basis, or at all.
4  The information could be manually compiled from
the semi-annual reports of those Members which have provided it for any
given period.  However, in light of the inconsistencies in reporting and
failures to report, comparisons between periods are likely to be misleading.
• The total number of measures in place at the end of the reporting period, with
comparable numbers for the previous two periods
- This information is to be provided in a separate table as an Annex to
Members' semi-annual reports.5  For reasons having principally to do with the
information submitted in semi-annual reports, this information cannot at
present be entered into the Rules Division database so as to automatically
generate a reliable report of measures in place at the end of a given period.
There are significant inconsistencies in Members' reporting of thisinformation, and some Members do not provide the requested Annex table on
                                                     
3  See "Guidelines for Information Provided in the Semi-Annual Reports", document G/ADP/1 (21
November 1995) at paragraph 15.
4 In this regard, the Secretariat notes that there has been improvement in Members' reporting of this
information, but inconsistencies remain.
5  See "Guidelines for Information Provided in the Semi-Annual Reports", document G/ADP/1 (21
November 1995) at paragraph 15.G/ADP/W/425
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a regular basis, or at all.6  The information can be manually compiled from
the semi-annual reports of those Members which do provide it for any given
period.  Such a manual count, as of 30 June each year, is reported in the
WTO Annual report, and in the Committee's annual report to the Council for
Trade in Goods, most recently in document G/L/495.  However, in light ofthe inconsistencies in reporting and failures to report, comparisons between
periods may be misleading.
• A breakdown of the countries affected by anti-dumping measures
- This information is to be provided in Members' semi-annual reports.
Information for the most recent 6-month period is contained in the press
release, and is reported on a calendar-year basis on the WTO web-site,
including the total number of measures affecting each country.  This
information is also reported on a 12-month basis in the WTO Annual Reportand the Committee's annual report to th e Council for Trade in Goods, most
recently in document G/L/495 (for the period 1 July 2000- 30 June 2001), but
the total number of measures affecting each country is not calculated in these
reports.
• A breakdown of industries and product types affected by anti-dumping measures
- This information is not requested to be provided in the semi-annual reports.
Members are asked to report the specific product subject to each investigation
and measure, but as there are no guidelines or limitations on product
definition, there is no consistency of reporting in this regard.  As a
consequence, this information is not reported by the Secretariat.  However,
the specific product subject to each reported investigation, as identified bythe reporting Member, is included in the information in the database.  In
addition, in entering the information provided in semi-annual reports into the
database, the Secretariat informally classifies the products at the Section level
of the Harmonized System of Tariff Classification, and includes that
classification in the information provided in the press release and the tableson the WTO web-site.
• The Members that reported anti-dumping activity
- This information is available from Members' semi-annual reports.
Information for the most recent 6-month period is contained in the press
release, and the information is reported on a calendar-year basis on the WTO
web-site, and on a 12-month basis in the WTO Annual Report and theCommittee's annual report to the Council for Trade in Goods, most recently
in document G/L/495 (for the period 1 July 2000- 30 June 2001).  In addition,
the Secretariat, twice a year, up-dates the notifications which contain lists of
which Members have submitted semi-annual reports, which Members have
submitted reports of no actions taken, and which Members have not
submitted a semi-annual report for the period.
7
                                                     
6 In this regard, the Secretariat notes that there has been improvement in Members' reporting of this
information, but inconsistencies remain.
7 The most recent such up-dates can be found in documents G/ADP/N/2/Add.1/Rev.5,
G/ADP/N/4/Add.1/Rev.13, G/ADP/N/9/Add.1/Rev.13, G/ADP/N/16/Add.1/Rev.11, G/ADP/N/22/Add.1/Rev.8,
G/ADP/N/29/Add.1/Rev.8, G/ADP/N/35/Add.1/Rev.9, G/ADP/N/41/Add.1/Rev.7, G/ADP/N/47/Add.1/Rev.5,G/ADP/W/425
Page 4
• The Members that reported no anti-dumping activity.
- This information is derived from a lack of semi-annual reports. Information
regarding Members who have not submitted semi-annual reports is reported
on a 12-month basis in the WTO Annual Report and the Committee's annual
report to the Council for Trade in G oods, most recently in document G/L/495
(for the period 1 July 2000 - 30 June 2001).  In addition, as noted above, theSecretariat, twice a year, up-dates the notifications which contain lists of
which Members have submitted semi-annual reports, which Members have
submitted reports of no actions taken, and which Members have not
submitted a semi-annual report for the period.
 8
6. As noted in paragraph 2 above, the Rules Division databases of anti-dumping and
countervailing activity are only accessible internally, by Rules Division staff.  A proposal to make the
anti-dumping database publicly accessible through the WTO web-site was explored recently.However, the costs involved (estimated at ap proximately CHF 150,000 for the first year, and CHF
25,000 annually thereafter) cannot be met under the current operating budget of the Secretariat.
__________
                                                                                                                                                                    
G/ADP/N/53/Add.1/Rev.5, G/ADP/N/59/Add.1/Rev.4, G/ADP/N/65/Add.1/Rev.3, G/ADP/N/72/Add.1/Rev.2,
G/ADP/N/78/Add.1/Rev.1.
8 The most recent such up-dates can be found in documents G/ADP/N/2/Add.1/Rev.5,
G/ADP/N/4/Add.1/Rev.13, G/ADP/N/9/Add.1/Rev.13, G/ADP/N/16/Add.1/Rev.11, G/ADP/N/22/Add.1/Rev.8,
G/ADP/N/29/Add.1/Rev.8, G/ADP/N/35/Add.1/Rev.9, G/ADP/N/41/Add.1/Rev.7, G/ADP/N/47/Add.1/Rev.5,
G/ADP/N/53/Add.1/Rev.5, G/ADP/N/59/Add.1/Rev.4, G/ADP/N/65/Add.1/Rev.3, G/ADP/N/72/Add.1/Rev.2,
G/ADP/N/78/Add.1/Rev.1.