WT/DS529/10  
 
16 October 2018  
(18-6445) Page: 1/4 
  Original: English  
 
AUSTRALIA – ANTI -DUM PING MEASURES ON A4 COPY PAPER  
COMMUNICATION FROM T HE PANEL  
The following communication, dated 1 2 October 2018, was received from the Chairperson of the 
Panel with the request that it be circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body.  
 
_______________  
 
 
Paragraph 1(3) of the Working Procedures for the Panel proceedings in the dispute 
Australia  –  Anti-Dumping Measures o n A4 Copy Paper provides:  
 
These Working Procedures and the timetable will be made available to all WTO Members during 
the course of the dispute by being added to the DS document series for the dispute. The Panel 
will circulate preliminary rulings as appropriate.  
Accordingly, please find enclosed the Additional Working Procedures of t he Panel Concerning 
Business Confidenti al Information  adopted by the Panel on 5 October 2018.  
 
I would be grateful if you would circulate this document  to the DSB.  
  WT/DS529/10  
 
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ADDITIONAL WORKING PROCEDURES OF THE PANEL 
CONCERNING BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION  
 
Adopted on 5 October 2018  
 
The following procedures apply to any business confidential information (BCI) submitted in the  
course of the Panel proceedings in DS529.  
1. For the purposes of these Panel proceedings, and subject to paragraphs 8 and 9, BCI includes:  
 
a. any information designated a s such by the party submitting it that was previously  
treated as confidential by the investigating authority in the anti -dumping investigation 
at issue in this dispute; and  
 
b. any other information designated as such by the party submitting it.  
 
2. If a party c onsiders that certain BCI cannot be submitted without authorization from an entity that 
submitted that information during the investigation at issue, the party shall, at the earliest possible 
date, obtain an authorizing letter from the entity and provide s uch authorizing letter to the Panel, 
with a copy to the other party. The authorizing letter from the entity shall authorize both Indonesia 
and Australia to submit that BCI in this dispute.  
 
3. Each party shall, at the request of the other party, facilitate th e communication to an entity in its 
territory of any request to provide an authorization letter referred to in paragraph 2. Each party 
shall encourage any entity in its territory that is requested to grant the authorization referred to in 
paragraph 2 to gr ant such authorization. If an entity refuses to grant the authorization referred to 
in paragraph 2, a party may bring the situation to the attention of the Panel.  
 
4. For the purposes of these Additional Working Procedures, "approved persons" means  members 
of the Panel in the DS529 dispute proceedings, employees of the WTO Secretariat assigned to 
work on the DS529 dispute proceedings, translators and interpreters of the WTO, as well as 
representatives of, and outside advisors to, each of the parties  to the dispute and third parties, 
which have been granted access to BCI pursuant to paragraph 7. A representative of, or an 
outside advisor to, a party or third party must not be designated as an approved person if that 
person is an officer or employee of  an enterprise engaged in the production, sale, export, or 
import of A4 copy paper, or an officer or employee of an association of which the enterprise is a 
member.  
 
5. Representatives of, and outside advisors to, each of the parties to the dispute and, where  relevant 
under paragraph 7, representatives of, and outside advisors to, third parties shall be notified to 
the Panel, other party and third parties in a list containing the names, titles and employers of 
persons legitimately requiring access to the BCI i n the DS529 dispute proceedings. The list for 
each party is to be first submitted at the latest by 8 October 2018. The list of a third party which 
has been granted access to BCI pursuant to paragraph 7 shall be submitted in accordance with 
that provision. The list of each party or third party shall be subsequently amended and re -
submitted if the names and/or titles and/or employers are changed.  
 
6. Third parties' access to BCI shall be subject to the terms of these Additional Working Procedures . 
Where third parties receive written submissions pursuant to the Working Procedures, the third 
parties shall receive the redacted versions of such written submissions containing BCI and 
redacted versions of exhibits thereto. The redacted versions of the parties' writte n submissions 
received by third parties pursuant to the Working Procedures and redacted versions of exhibits 
shall be sufficient to convey a reasonable understanding of the nature of the information at issue.  
 
7. A third party may request access to the non -redacted version of a party's written submission 
received by a third party pursuant to the Working Procedures or an exhibit thereto containing BCI 
for the purpose of participating effectively in the Panel proceedings. The Panel, after consulting 
the parties,  shall decide whether to grant access to such BCI, taking into consideration the 
sensitivity of the information and the need for the third party to see the information in order to 
ensure that their interests as a third party are fully taken into account. Where the Panel grants a 
third party's request, the third party shall submit a statement whereby it undertakes to respect WT/DS529/10  
 
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  these Additional Working Procedures  and shall provide the list of representatives of, and outside 
advisors to, the third party which th e third party wishes to be designated as "approved persons" 
within the meaning of paragraph 4. If granted, the third party's access to the BCI will take place 
through the Digital Dispute Settlement Registry, unless good cause is shown for an alternative 
arrangement.  
 
8. Any information that is available in the public domain may not be designated as BCI.  
 
9. If a party considers that information submitted by the other party or third party should have been 
designated as BCI and objects to its submission without su ch designation, it shall forthwith bring 
this objection to the attention of the Panel and the other party or third party, together with the 
reasons for the objection. Similarly, if a party or third party considers that the other party or third 
party has de signated information as BCI which should not be so designated, it shall forthwith 
bring this objection to the attention of the Panel and the other  party or third party, together with 
the reasons for the objection. The  Panel, in deciding whether information  subject to an objection 
should be treated as BCI for  the purposes of these Panel proceedings, will consider whether 
disclosure of the information in  question could cause harm to the interests of the party submitting 
it or to the originator(s) of the infor mation.  
 
10. Only an approved person shall have access to BCI. Third parties shall only receive redacted 
versions of any documents to which they are permitted access under the Working Procedures of 
the Panel, unless granted access to BCI under the terms of par agraph 7.  
 
11. An approved person shall not disclose BCI to persons other than other approved persons.  
 
12. Each party, each third party having access to the BCI under the terms of paragraph 7, and each 
approved person shall only use BCI for the purposes of  this dispute.  
 
13. Each party and third party having access to the BCI under the terms of paragraph 7 is responsible 
for ensuring that its representatives and  outside advisors comply with these Additional Working 
Procedures.  
 
14. The party or third party submitting BCI shall mark the cover and/or first page of the document 
containing BCI, and each page of the document, to indicate the presence of such information. 
The specific  information in question shall be placed between double brackets, as follows: 
[[xxxxxxx]]. T he first page or cover of the document shall state "Contains Business Confidential 
Information", and each page of the document shall contain the notice “Contains Business 
Confidential Information” at the top of the page.  
 
15. Any BCI that is submitted in binar y-encoded form shall be clearly marked with the statement 
"Business Confidential Information" on a label of the storage medium, and clearly marked with 
the statement "Business Confidential Information" in the binary -encoded files.  
 
16. In the case of an oral s tatement, or oral response to a question, containing BCI, the party or third 
party making such a  statement or response  shall inform the Panel before making it that the 
statement or response will contain BCI, and the  Panel will ensure that only approved per sons are 
able to hear that statement or response. The written versions of such oral statements or 
responses submitted to the  Panel shall be marked as provided for in paragraph 14.  
 
17. Each approved person shall store  all documents containing BCI in such a man ner as to prevent 
access to them by persons who are not approved persons.  
 
18. The Panel will not disclose BCI, in its report or in any other way, to persons who are not approved 
persons. The Panel may, however, make statements of  conclusion drawn from such in formation. 
Before the Panel circulates its final report to the  Members, the Panel will give each party an 
opportunity to review the report to ensure that it does  not contain any information that the party 
has designated as BCI.  
 WT/DS529/10  
 
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  19. At the conclusion of the dispute,1 and within a period to be fixed by the Panel, each party and 
third party having access to BCI under these Additional Working Procedures shall return all 
original documents (including electronic material) containing BCI, to the party that submitted 
such BC I, certify in writing to the Panel and the other party that any and all copies of such 
documents have been destroyed, or otherwise protect the BCI against disclosure, consistent with 
the party’s obligations under its domestic laws. The WTO Secretariat shal l have the right to retain 
one copy of each of the documents containing BCI for the archives of the WTO.  
 
20. Submissions containing BCI will be included in the record forwarded to the Appellate Body in  the 
event of an appeal of the Panel's Report.  
 
 
_________ _ 
                                                
1 This is defined as when (a) the Panel or Appellate Body report is adopted by the DSB, or the DSB decides 
by consensus not to adopt the Panel or the Appellate Body report; (b) the authority for the establishment of the 
Panel lapses under Article 12.12 of the DSU; or (c) a mutually satisfactory solution is notified to the DSB under 
Article 3.6 of the DSU.