. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/366
12 October 1999
(99-4320)
General Council Original:  Spanish
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Proposal on Anti-Dumping Measures
Communication from Chile
The following communication, dated 5 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Chile.
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Proposal
1. At the forthcoming WTO Ministerial Conference, a broad negotiating mandate should be
adopted to allow a thorough revision of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement) in order to strengthen its
disciplines, making them less discretionary and clearer as regards interpretation.  This will ensure
both that an exceptional system is applied more meticulously and at the same time that the ensuingmeasures are not used as restrictions on legitimate trade.  The aim is to remedy a situation in which
anti-dumping measures have in most cases become a protectionist instrument that has nothing to do
with anti-competitive behaviour.
Background
2. The imposition of an anti-dumping measure should be exceptional and designed to remedy
the injury produced by supposedly unfair competition.  Since it is an exceptional measure, the legal
framework in which it may be applied must be sufficiently precise and clear so as to ensure that itdoes not become an obstacle to trade.
3. Like other WTO Members, both developed and developing, Chile considers that there are a
number of ambiguities in the provisions of the Anti-Dumping Agreement:  this allows a broad range
of interpretations, giving rise to abuses and the consequent imposition of anti-dumping measures.
4. A number of provisions of the Anti-Dumping Ag reement should be amended so as to contain
stricter disciplines.  Chile has pinpointed a large number of issues and articles in the Anti-Dumping
Agreement which we consider should be negotiated.  Most of these were raised by various delegations
during the so-called second preparatory stage for the 1999 Ministerial Conference.
5. There are various aspects that should be revised.  These include the provision whereby it is
possible not to consider the domestic price as the normal value of a product when sales are made inthe ordinary course of trade;  the need to establ ish a ranking of priorities for determining the normal
value of goods;  the form in which anti-dumping duties are calculated for enterprises that are not
investigated;  the possibility of applying measures retroactively;  the determination of causality;  the
cumulation of imports from different origins;  the duration of measures;  and the use of the margin of
injury to repair the injury to the domestic industry, inter alia .WT/GC/W/366
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6. Notwithstanding the study of the aspects mentioned in the preceding paragraph with a view to
improving the actual implementation of the Agreement, Chile proposes that a study be made of
provisions aimed at ensuring that anti-dumping measures may only be applied when the objective
conditions in a market make anti-competitive behaviour practicable.
7. Chile considers that predatory dumping is especially possible when specific external
producers have extraordinary advantages in their home markets as a result of tariff and non-tariff
protection and other measures which distort competition, and which create big enough profit margins
for them to maintain a low pricing policy in one or more foreign markets.  Otherwise, in open
economies competition and arbitrage will undo attempts at predatory dumping.
8. Accordingly, an investigation should be initiated only where there is objective information
(facts) to demonstrate that the exporter has a dominant position or power in its home market.  The
negotiations should establish the nature of the necessary objective information as well as theprocedures for establishing or substantiating it.
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