./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/GC/W/235
6 July 1999
(99-2814)
General Council Original:  English
PREPARATIONS FOR THE 1999 MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the GATT 1994
Proposal under Paragraph 9(a)(i) of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration
Communication from Korea
The following communication, dated 6 July 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Korea.
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Background
1. The WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement is generally considered to be more detailed and concrete
than the Tokyo Round Code, as it brought new provisions that clarified some of the ambiguities
contained in the Code and somewhat lessened the possibility of misuse of anti-dumping measures.
However, the current Anti-Dumping Agreement retains a number of shortcomings that have generated
problems over the past years.  Ambiguities remain and create distortions, sometimes opening the door
for abuse.
2. The recent overall increase in the use of anti-dumping measures has been accompanied by a
rise in disputes over the compatibility of certain national anti-dumping measures with the WTO anti-
dumping regime.  [Since the launch of the WTO in 1995, there have been 14 disputes over anti-
dumping measures, half of which were challe nges against anti-dumping measures taken by
developing countries.]  Both the increase in the use of anti-dumping actions and the rise in disputesare, in all likelihood, corollaries to the ambiguities contained in the Agreement.  Both are also partly
caused by the rising demand for protection by some specific industries from trade liberalization and
market opening set in motion after the conclusion of the Uruguay Round.  With low industrial tariffs
now mostly prevailing – and thus much less useful  to provide requested protection – governments are
tempted to exploit the ambiguities and flaws in the Agreement to assuage groups pursuing aprotectionist agenda.  To prevent abuse and reduce the number of disputes, therefore, Korea believes
that the Agreement should be reviewed and appropriately amended so as to bring necessary
clarifications and reduce the size of “grey areas” that permit a wide range of conflicting
interpretations.
3. To address these grey areas, the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices has launched the
Ad-Hoc Group on Implementation, which has produced and adopted several recommendations for the
Committee.  Some of these recommendations should be well taken into account to improve the
Agreement.WT/GC/W/235
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4. In addition to embodying these recommendations, the Anti-Dumping Agreement, like all
international trade rules, should reflect changes in  the world trade environment.  Important changes
such as increased cross-border activities of multinational enterprises, expanding regional trade
schemes, the creation of harmonized rules of origin and the transfer of production facilities to
developing countries affect the way multilateral anti-dumping rules function.  Hence it is essential thata review of the AD Agreement also include a thoroug h analysis of the implications of such changes
for the current WTO AD regime.
5. In this regard, the anti-circumvention is one of  the important issues to all Members.  This
issue has been discussed for the last two years as  a built-in agenda arising from the Uruguay Round.
However, the discussion in an informal group under the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices has
not been fruitful due to the wide differences am ong Members’ views.  Given the growing importance
of anti-circumvention, new impetus should be given to the related debate.
6. Because a review of the AD Agreement will necessitate an appropriate multilateral setting
and probably intense negotiations, Korea believes that the next round of multilateral trade
negotiations would be the ideal forum to deal with such review.
Proposal7. At this stage, Korea’s proposal is two-fold:
- Negotiations for reviewing the Anti-Dumping Agreement should be conducted in the
new round, with a view to reflecting a balance of the interests of all Member
countries.
- Among the various areas to be tackled, Korea proposes that at least in the areas of
initiation of investigation and review procedures, further clarification be made and
disciplines be established to avoid unnecessary trade obstacle caused by unjustified
anti-dumping actions.
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