G/ADP/Q1/MNE/1  
G/SCM/Q1/MNE/1  
G/SG/Q1/MNE/1  
 
24 March 2014  
(14-1814)  Page: 1/4  
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  
QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES 
REGARDING THE NOTIFICATION OF MONTENEGRO1 
The following communication, dated 20 March 2014, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the United States.  
_______________ 
 
 The United States thanks Montenegro for its notifi cation of the Revised Act and poses the following 
questions: 
 
General
2 
 Question 1  Please explain how Montenegro plans to provide reas onable public notice to all interested parties 
for public hearings or other appropriate means in which importers, exporters and other interested 
parties could present evidence and their views,  including the opportunity to respond to the 
presentations of other parties. Please indicate wh ether notices will be published in the "Official 
Gazette" of Montenegro and/or in another publication. 
 Question 2 
 
Please indicate whether Montenegro's competent authority will maintain a docket file and public reading room through which interested parties may inspect, copy, or access electronically the public version of the petition and the documents su bmitted by interested parties in the course of 
the investigation. 
 Question 3 
 
Articles 7(3) and 7(4) of the Foreign Trade Law ("Law") state that an appeal may be lodged against a decision by the Competent Authority and that, subsequently, a right of judicial review 
exists against a decision made on appeal. Could Montenegro please clarify if these opportunities 
for appeal and judicial review exist for interested parties and, if so, what the specific procedures 
and timelines are that govern each appeal/judic ial review proceeding, and when will Montenegro 
notify these procedures to the applicable WTO Committees? Also, please advise as to which entity 
appeals and judicial reviews should be submitted. 
 
                                               
1 G/ADP/N/1/MNE/1 - G/SCM/N/1/MNE/1 – G/SG/N/1/MNE/1 (dated 26 September 2013). 
2 For the sake of efficiency, the United States suggests that committee review for the "General" 
questions be conducted in the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices.  G/ADP/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SCM/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SG/Q1/MNE/1 
 
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  Question 4  
 Article 8 of the Law addresses the treatment of "c onfidential information" but does not indicate 
whether parties providing such information may be requested to furnish non-confidential 
summaries thereof. Please explain whether Montenegro plans to ask parties to furnish such non-
confidential summaries.  
Question 5 
 Article 34(2) of the Law states that in establishing procedures and terms pertaining to implementation of trade remedies, Montenegro shall "tak[e] into consideration provisions of 
relevant WTO agreements and EU legislation." Please explain the meaning of this provision. If the 
Law and the Decree for the Implementation of Law on Foreign Trade ("Decree") are silent on a matter that the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs 
and Trade 1994 ("AD Agreement"), Agreement on  Subsidies and Countervailing Measures ("SCM 
Agreement"), or Agreement on Safeguards ("Safegu ards Agreement") addresses, do the provisions 
of the pertinent WTO agreement control? 
 
Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties
3 
 Question 6  
 
Article 37(3) of the Law states that related party producers "must not be treated as part of a domestic industry." Does this mean that related party producers are always excluded from the 
domestic industry both for purposes of determining standing under Article 37(2) of the Law and for 
determining injury for purposes of Article 36(1) of the Law?  
Question 7 
 Article 19 of the Decree provides criteria for the examination of the impact of dumped or 
subsidized imports on the domestic industry. By contrast, Article 36(1) of the Law contains 
provisions requiring the authority to examine the volume and price effects of dumped or 
subsidized imports, but does not expressly require examination of impact. In light of this, please 
explain what use the authority makes of the impact  findings specified by Article 19 of the Decree. 
 
Question 8  
Is Article 20(2) of the Decree applicable to determinations of material injury, threat of material 
injury, or both?  
a. If it is intended to be applicable to both, please explain how factor (2), pertaining to 
available capacity or expected increases in capa city, is pertinent to an analysis of current 
material injury. 
b. If it is intended to be applicable to threat, please explain how Montenegro implements 
the requirements of Article 3.7(iv) of the AD Agreement and Article 15.7(v) of the SCM 
Agreement requiring an authority to consider inventories of the product under investigation in any analysis of threat of material injury. 
Question 9 
 Neither the Law nor the Decree addresses cumulation . If imports from more than one country are 
simultaneously subject to antidumping or countervailing duty investigations, does Montenegro 
conduct a cumulative analysis of such imports? If so, how does Montenegro assure that any such 
analysis conforms to the requirements of Articl e 3.3 of the AD Agreement and Article 15.3 of the 
SCM Agreement? 
 
                                               
3 For the sake of efficiency, the Un ited States suggests that committee  review of the "Anti-Dumping and 
Countervailing Duties" questions be conducted in the Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices. 
 G/ADP/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SCM/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SG/Q1/MNE/1 
 
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  Question 10 
 Article 32 of the Decree states that the authority shall inform interested parties of the essential facts under consideration not later than 15 days before the final dumping or subsidy 
determination. By contrast, Article 39(2) of the Law appears to suggest that disclosure of essential 
facts occur at least 30 days before the final dumping or subsidy determination. Which provision controls? Additionally, does the disclosure of essential facts concern facts pertinent to the injury 
determination as well as facts pertinent to the dumping or subsidy determination? Please also 
confirm that interested parties will have sufficient opportunity to comment on any essential facts disclosed and provide an expected timeline as to when such comments would be due following disclosure to parties. 
 
Question 11  
How does Montenegro implement the requirements  of Article 12.2.1 of the AD Agreement and 
Article 22.4 of the SCM Agreement concerning the co ntents of public notices of the imposition of 
provisional measures? 
 
Question 12  How does Montenegro implement the requirements  of Article 12.2.2 of the AD Agreement and 
Article 22.5 of the SCM Agreement concerning the co ntents of public notices of imposition of a 
definitive duty?  
 
Safeguards 
 
Question 13 
 
In Article 2(12) of the Law, the term "Quantitative restriction" is defined to include "the ban on export or import." In comparison, Article 46(2) , when applied in the context of a safeguard 
measure, states that such a restriction "shall no t reduce the quantity of imports below the average 
level of imports in three representative year s preceding such imports." Please explain: 
 
a. How Montenegro would apply the two definitions in the case of a safeguard measure, 
including whether Montenegro would considering banning imports of a product if there 
were no imports in the three years that Montenegro considered to be "three years preceding such imports";  
b. How a quantitative restriction that provides for a "ban" on imports would be consistent 
with Article 5.1 of the Safeguards Agreement, which provides that a measure "shall not reduce the quantity of imports below the level of a recent period which shall be the average of imports in the last three repr esentative years for which statistics are 
available, unless clear justification is given that a different level is necessary to prevent 
or remedy serious injury"; and  
c. How a ban would be consistent with the obligation in Article 5.1 of the Safeguards 
Agreements that a member apply safeguard measures "only to the extent necessary to 
prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment". 
Question 14 
 
In Article 2(13) of the Law, the term "quota" is defined to mean the share allocated to "certain person or group of persons (exporters or import ers)". The use of the term "person or group of 
persons" suggests that Montenegro, in applying  a safeguard measure, may intend to allocate 
shares to individual importing or exporting companies as opposed to WTO Members. Please explain 
how this definition is consistent with Article 5.2(a) of the Safeguards Agreement, which provides, when quotas are allocated, that they be "allocated among supplying countries". 
 
Question 15  
Article 17(1) of the Law provides for the allocati on of quotas and provides that the competent 
authority "shall allocate any quotas on the basis of a public invitation to submit requests for G/ADP/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SCM/Q1/MNE/1 • G/SG/Q1/MNE/1 
 
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  allocation of quotas." Please identify the circumst ances in which this authority might be used and, 
if it is intended to be used in the context of ap plying a safeguard measure, please explain how it is 
consistent with Article 5.2 of the Safeguards Agreement.  
Question 16 
 Article 41(1) of the Decree states that the comp etent authority must prepare a report, based on 
the facts and evidence obtained, "on the state of [the] domestic industry, especially with respect 
[to] whether the increased imports are causing serious injury or there is a threat thereof and proposal for possible imposition of safeguard measure." Article 41(2) states the report is to be submitted to "the government." Please explain how this article relates to the provisions in:  
 
a. Article 3.1 of the Safeguards Agreement, which requires that "[t]he competent 
authorities shall publish a report setting forth their findings and reasoned conclusions on 
all pertinent issues of fact and law"; and  
b. Article 4.2(c) of the Safeguards Agreement, which requires that "[t]he competent 
authorities shall publish promptly, in accordance with the provisions of Article 3, a 
detailed analysis of the case under investigation as well as demonstration of the 
relevance of the factors examined." Please also indicate when the public version of the report of the competent authority is likely to be made available to the interested parties, including interested WTO Members. 
 
__________