G/ADP/Q1/GBR/6  
G/SCM/Q1/GBR/6  
G/SG/Q1/GBR/6  
 
27 April 2021  
(21-3567) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Anti -Dumping Practices  
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures  
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER  ARTICLES 18.5,  
32.6, AND 12.6 OF THE AGREEMENTS  
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS1 POSED BY THE UNITED STATES  
REGARDING  THE NOTIFICATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM2 
The following communication dated and received on 26 April 2021 , is being circulated at the request 
of the delegation of the United Kingdom . 
 
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The U nited Kingdom would like to thank  the United States for their written  questions , and we 
welcome the opportunity to  provide  clarity on the UK trade remedies system for all Members.  
The U nited Kingdom  has begun operating our own domestic trade remedies system that was put in 
place in light of our departure from the European Union. The U nited Kingdom  has legislated for this 
system, in line with WTO rules, and made relevant notifications to the WTO in line with our 
obligations. All the U nited Kingdom' s legislation we have put in place so far has been discussed in 
the Committees during October 2020 . 
The Taxation (Cross -border Trade) Act 2018, (hereinafter "the Taxation Act 2018 "), legislated for 
the ability for the UK Government to establish a standalone customs system following the end of the 
transition period. As part of the Taxation Act 2018, the Act establishes the U nited Kingdom' s 
domestic trade remedies framework.  
Secondary legislation under the Act, the first of which came into force on 6 March 2019, sets out the 
further detail of the U nited Kingdom' s trade remedies framework, specifi cally on dumping and 
subsidies investigations, safeguard investigations, and reconsiderations and appeals. For the 
purposes of these writte n replies , specific secondary legislation includes the Trade Remedies 
(Increase in Imports Causing Serious Injury to UK Producers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 
(hereinafter "the Safeguard Regulations 2019 "), the Trade Remedies (Dumping and Subsidisation) 
(EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (hereinafter "the Dumping and Subsidy Regulations 2019 "), and the 
Trade Remedies (Reconsidera tion and Appeals) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (hereinafter "the 
Reconsideration and Appeals Regulations 2019 "). 
TRID have published guidance on how it will operate trade remedy investigations and it is available 
on the UK Government website here: https://www.gov.u k/government/publications/the -uk-trade -
remedies -investigations -process . 
 
1 G/ADP/Q1/GBR/ 3 - G/SCM/Q1/GBR/ 3 - G/SG/Q1/GBR/ 2. 
2 G/ADP/N/1/GBR/1 /Suppl.4  - G/SCM/N/1/GBR/1 /Suppl.4  - G/SG/N/1/GBR/1 /Suppl.4 . G/ADP/Q1/GBR/6 • G/SCM/Q1/GBR/6 • G/SG/Q1/GBR/6  
 
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  Question 1  
Article 6 of Part 2, Chapter 1 states that "the {Trade Remedies Authority (hereinafter 
"TRA")} or the Secretary of State may disclose information which the TRA or the 
Secretary  of State treats as confidential where such disclosure is —(a) made with the 
consent of the person supplying the information; (b) made for the purpose of court or 
tribunal proceedings in the United Kingdom …; (c)  made for the purpose of an 
internat ional dispute…; or (d) required or permitted by any other enactment or rule of 
law."  
a. In the context of an international dispute, may the TRA or the Secretary of State 
disclose information that it received from a foreign exporter or government that 
it treat s as confidential without first seeking consent from the person or 
government that supplied the information?  
b. What provisions do United Kingdom court or tribunal proceedings have for the 
treatment of information that the TRA has treated as confidential?  
Reply: 
a. Under Regulation 6(1)(c), for the purposes of an international dispute relating to the exercise 
of their functions under the Act or the Regulations, the Secretary of State  (or TRA) may 
disclose information they are treating as confidential without firs t seeking consent from the 
person supplying the information.  However, in exercising that discretion they must consider 
the provisions of Regulation  6(3), i.e. whether disclosing the information is likely to allow, 
or result in, the information being made a vailable to a competitor of the person supplying 
the information or the person to which it relates.  
An international dispute will be conducted by DIT. The TRA may provide information to assist 
in the dispute.  
The TRA may disclose information to the Secreta ry of State  which it is treating as confidential 
under Regulation  6(2). Under Regulation  5(5) the Secretary of State  must treat the 
information supplied by the TRA unde r Regulation  6(2) as confidential.  
Before disclosing the information, the Secretary of S tate must have consideration of 
Regulation  6(3). 
b. Statutory appeals may be made to the Upper Tribunal (UT), which has specific rules relating 
to the disclosure of information that TRA treats as confidential. Under Rule 14(8) of the UT 
Rules, the tribunal ma y, either on its own initiative or after an application by one of the 
parties involved, make a direction that confidential documents or information must or may 
be disclosed to the tribunal on the basis that it will not disclose them further, either general ly 
or to specific people.  In the context of a trade remedies case in particular, Rule 14(8A) says 
that the tribunal may give such a direction if it is satisfied that the TRA is treating the 
documents/information as confidential under the relevant provision s of its regulations, i.e., 
Regulation 45 of the Dumping and Subsidisation Regulations, Regulation 16 of the Safeguard 
Regulations and Regulation 5 of the Reconsideration and Appeals Regulations.  In these 
circumstances, the UT can still consider the confid ential documents/information when 
making its decision.  
Question 2  
Part 2, Article 9(6) of the Reconsideration and Appeals Regulations 2019  states that "{a}n 
interested party may apply to the TRA for reconsideration of any original decision not 
referred to in paragraphs  (2) to (5)." Please clarify whether parties who were not 
interested parties in the initial trade remedy proceeding, or inter ested parties who did not 
participate in the initial trade remedy proceeding, could be considered as interested 
parties for the purpose of a reconsideration or appeal.  G/ADP/Q1/GBR/6 • G/SCM/Q1/GBR/6 • G/SG/Q1/GBR/6  
 
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  Reply : 
Per Regulation  9(6), Part 2 of the Trade Remedies ( Reconsideration and Appeals ) Regulations 2019, 
as amended, only interested parties , as defined  in regulation 2 of the Trade Remedies (Dumping  
and Subsidy) Regulations 2019 and regulation 2 of the Trade Remedies (Safeguards) 
Regulations  2019,  will be able to apply to TRID to reconsider an original decision  other than those 
referred to in paragraphs (2) -(5). There is no requirement that the interested party participated in 
the original investigation.  
 
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