. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/RL/W/128
19 June 2003
(03-3272)
Negotiating Group on Rules Original:  English
EGYPT’S PAPER REPLYING TO THE QUESTION POSED BY THE
UNITED STATES IN DOCUMENT NUMBER TN/RL/W/103
The following communication, dated 17 June 2003, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Egypt.
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Egypt appreciates the United States' question addressing the issue of the concerns of the
public record, contained in our document number TN/RL/W/56.
Question
Egypt stated that it does not “consider it  necessary to request each investigating
authority to maintain a public record of all the non-confidential information submitted and of
all the determination issued”.  If such a record  is not maintained, how does Egypt propose that
a reviewing dispute settlement panel can ensu re that its examination of the matter is in
conformity with Article 17.5(ii)?
Reply
Egypt would like to provide a respon se to the US question as follows:
Egypt considers that requiring an investigating au thority to maintain a public record of all the
non-confidential information submitted by interested parties in the context of an anti-dumping
investigation exceeds the requirements set forth in Article 6.4 and 17.5(ii) of the Anti-Dumping
Agreement.
Under Article 6.4, an investigating authority is requested, whenever practicable, to provide
interested parties with the information relevant to the presentation of their cases and that is used in the
anti-dumping investigation.  As mentioned by Egypt in document number TN/RL/W/56, each
investigating authority enjoys a certain discretion and margin of flexibility under the Anti-Dumping
Agreement in deciding how to organize and grant access to non-confidential information.
Provided that access to non-confidential information is guaranteed as stipulated under
Article 6.4 an investigating authority remains free to organize the access of interested parties to non-
confidential information.  The flexibility guaran teed under Article 6.4 is important considering the
different resources available to investigating author ities and the environment in which they operate in.
It must be noted that the decision of a Member not to maintain a public record of non-
confidential information does not prevent it from complying with its obligation under Article 17.5 (ii).
Regardless of the organization of the non-confidential information submitted to it, a Member must
ensure that the necessary information is submitted by the interested parties to the importing Member.TN/RL/W/128
Page 2
Furthermore, Article 17.5(ii) of the Anti-D umping Agreement does not imply directly or
indirectly that an Investigating Authorities should maintain a public record of all the non-confidential
information collected and all the determinations made in the course of an anti-dumping investigation.
A panel is established according to article 17.5 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement to examine the
matter referred to it, based on the facts made available to the Investigating Authorities in conformity
with appropriate domestic procedures of the importing Member.  In this respect there is no obligation
on the Investigating Authorities to use a specific tool or form to keep such information.Article 17.5(ii) focuses on the facts on which the panel will base its findings and recommendations,
rather than the form or manner in which these facts should be kept by the Investigating Authorities not
the manner in which non-confidential information should be kept. If a specific form is required,
Article 17.5 (ii) would have specified it, instead of inserting the following wording “in conformity
with appropriate domestic procedures of the importing Members”.
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