RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/ADP/AHG/W/76
19 October 1999
(99-4500)
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices
Ad Hoc Group on ImplementationOriginal:  English
PRACTICAL ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL USERS AND CONSUMER
ORGANIZATIONS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION UNDER ARTICLE 6.12
PRACTICAL ISSUES AND EXPERIENCE IN CONDUCTING
"NEW SHIPPER" REVIEWS UNDER ARTICLE 9.5
Paper by Canada
The following communication, dated 19 October 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Canada.
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Article 6.12
Article 6.12 requires that anti-dumping authorities provide an opportunity for industrial users
of the product under investigation and consumer organizations in the case of final products, to provide
information which is relevant to the investigation, regarding dumping, injury and causality.
Canadian Practice
In Canadian practice, representations from industrial users and consumer organizations can be
submitted to Revenue Canada or the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the Tribunal) at any time
during an investigation.  However, if such represen tations raise issues of public interest, there are
provisions1 under Canada’s anti-dumping law allowing for the initiation of a separate enquiry process
to consider these arguments.
The purpose of a public interest enquiry is to assess whether anti-dumping duties should be
lowered or eliminated in view of broader issues of public interest.  In the past, enquiries of this nature
have dealt with a range of issues including the impact of the duties on downstream users, the impact
on competition in the domestic market and consumer interests.
The public interest enquiry process is initiated after a finding of material injury.  Normally the
process begins when, as a result of representations and arguments received during the injury enquiry,
the Tribunal requests submissions from interested persons on issues respecting the public interest.  In
addition to the parties to the anti-dumping investigation, “person interested”, as defined in law,includes downstream users, consumer associations and competition authorities. Based on the
representations received from such persons, the Tribunal determines whether a formal enquiry on
matters of public interest is warranted.
                                                     
1 Section 45 of the Special Import Measures Act.G/ADP/AHG/W/76
Page 2
A public interest enquiry is conducted in a similar fashion to an injury enquiry, in accordance
with rules of procedural fairness including the holding of public hearings.  All parties have a full
opportunity to present their views and rebut the argume nts of others.  If, after hearing the matter, the
Tribunal is of the opinion that there is a public interest in favour of the reduction or elimination of the
anti-dumping duties, it issues a report to the Minister of Finance containing its opinion, with specificrecommendations on the amount(s) by which the duties should be reduced, and supporting reasons
2.
Proposed Changes to Public Interest Provisions
The Government of Canada recently passed legislation to strengthen the public interest
provisions of the Special Import Measures Act.  These amendments along with proposed changes to
the regulations are expected to come into effect in early 2000.
The amendments to the Act clarify the existing public interest provisions by establishing a
“reasonable grounds” threshold for the consideration of public interest concerns by the Tribunal.
Second, the proposed regulations require the Tribunal to take into account factors relating to
public interest that are prescribed by regulation.  The non-exhaustive list of factors that might form a
test for public interest include:
- significant damage to downstream users;
- problem of access to inputs due to imposition of the full duty;
- significant impact on choice or availability of products to consumers;  and
- elimination of competition in the market place.
Finally, the amended legislation confers explicit authority on the Tribunal to recommend, as
an option, a lower duty.  Such a duty would be lower than the full margin of dumping, but sufficient
to eliminate the injury caused to the domestic producers.
Questions for discussion
Canada would be interested in knowing how  other members provide an opportunity for
industrial users and consumers to provide relevant input, specifically, $
(a) How do other members take into account the “relevancy” of submissions from
consumers and downstream users?
(b) Are competition authorities, on behalf of consumers and downstream industries,
allowed/required to provide input?
(c) Can representations from these groups result in the reduction of anti-dumping duties?
Article 9.5
If a product is subject to anti-dumping duties in an importing Member, the authorities shall
promptly carry out a review for the purpose of determining individual margins of dumping for any
exporters or producers in the exporting country in question who have not exported the product to the
importing Member during the period of investigation, provided that these exporters or producers can
show that they are not related to any of the expo rters or producers in the exporting country who are
subject to the anti-dumping duties on the product.  Such a review shall be initiated and carried out on
                                                     
2 The Tribunal’s report is published in the Canada Gazette.G/ADP/AHG/W/76
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an accelerated basis, compared to normal duty assessment and review proceedings in the importing
Member.  No anti-dumping duties shall be levied on imports from such exporters or producers while
the review is being carried out.  The authoritie s may, however, withhold appraisement and/or request
guarantees to ensure that, should such a review resu lt in a determination of dumping in respect of such
producers or exporters, anti-dumping duties can be levied retroactively to the date of the initiation ofthe review.
Canada’s Practice
The Canadian legislation, the Special Import Measures Act  (section 13.2), implements
Article 9.5 of the Anti-dumping Agreement by giving Revenue Canada the authority to initiate
expedited reviews when certain conditions are met.  These conditions, which are stated in both theAct and the Special Import Measures Regulations  are:
1. The goods in question are subject to definitive anti-dumping or countervailing duties.
2. A request is made by an exporter of goods that are subject to an injury determination made by
the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.
3. The exporter was not given "notice" of the inve stigation at the initiation of the investigation,
at the preliminary determination or at the final determination of dumping; or the exporter was not
requested to provide information in relation to the subject goods.
4. The exporter shows that it is not related to any of the exporters, in the exporting country,
whose goods are subject to the injury determination made by the Canadian International Trade
Tribunal.
5. Subject goods have been sold or consigned to an importer in Canada prior to the request for
an expedited review.
6. The request is made in writing and contains the specific information, as prescribed in the
Regulations, (regulation 55), in order to make a decision on the request.
As a matter of practice, Revenue Canada will initiate and conduct the review on an
accelerated basis.  If the exporter's request satisfies the conditions noted above, the expedited review
normally is initiated within 15 working days of receipt of the request.
While there must be confirmation that goods have been sold or consigned to an importer in
Canada in order to initiate an expedited review, the review itself is not limited to those specificproducts of the exporter.  Since Canada maintains a prospective duty enforcement system, normal
values and export prices for any reasonable number of models, grades and sizes of the goods may be
calculated during the review for products being shipped in the future.
Once initiated, the review is conducted in an expeditious manner.  In terms of meeting
Canada’s Article 6.1.1. obligation, the exporter is given the standard 30 days (plus 7 days for mailing)
to respond to the request for information.  While  there are no legislated time frames to complete
expedited or regular reviews, it is the current policy to complete a regular review within 90 days.
Where necessary, this time frame may be extended. The Anti-dumping Agreement requires that the
new shipper review be carried out "on an accelerate d basis, compared to normal duty assessment and
review proceedings".  The final decision, issued to the exporter, is to be completed as promptly as
possible within 90 days.  At the conclusion of the review, Revenue Canada issues the normal values
and export prices and calculates the final assessment of anti-dumping duties, if any.
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