G/ADP/Q1/BRA/32  
G/SCM/Q1/BRA/32  
 
25 April 2016  
(16-2305)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices 
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLE 18.5 OF THE AGREEMENT 
REPLIES TO QUESTIONS POSED BY THE UNITED STATES1 
REGARDING THE NOTIFICATION OF BRAZIL2 
The following communication, dated 22 April 2016, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Brazil.  
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 Question 1 
Paragraph 2 of Article 2 states that intere sted parties shall participate in Brazilian 
antidumping investigations "through a duly authorized representative recognized by 
DECOM, by means of supporting documentatio n." Please explain the steps, procedures 
and documentation necessary for a pa rty to become "duly authorized." 
Reply 
In order to become "duly authorized" parties must present evidence or documents which prove 
that the representative can speak on behalf of the interested parties, i.e., that the representative 
has powers of attorney.  
Can an interested party repr esent itself in Brazilian antidumping investigations and 
obtain access to the DECOM Digital System (DDS)? 
Reply 
Yes, it is possible for any interested party to represent itself in an antidumping investigation 
carried out in DECOM Digital System. In order to do so, the said party would have to obtain a 
digital certificate. 
Are parties located outside of  Brazil able to access DDS? 
Reply 
Parties located outside of Brazil are able to access DDS by means of digital certificates. According 
to the pertinent regulation, foreign-based people can obtain such certificates.  
                                               
1 G/ADP/Q1/BRA/31-G/SCM/Q1/BRA/31 and G/ADP/Q1/BRA/31/Corr.1-G/SCM/Q1/BRA/31/Corr.1. 
2 G/ADP/N/1/BRA/3/Suppl.7 (dated 4 January 2016). G/ADP/Q1/BRA/32 • G/SCM/Q1/BRA/32 
 
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  Question 2  
Article 8 states that an electron ically filed document is consider ed timely if it is received 
by 11:59pm on the due date. Does DECOM have  any established procedures to address 
technical problems that may emerge at the time of filing (e.g., server being 
inoperative)? If so, what are they and where can interested parties find them? 
Reply 
Yes. Whenever a user has technical difficulties, DECOM redirects said user to the Ministry's help 
desk staff, whose contact is also available at the DDS website.  
 Also, as stated in the sole paragraph of Article 8,  in the event of "unavailability of the DDS on the 
last day for on-time delivery under an investigation, such time limit shall be extended, 
automatically, to the first working day fo llowing the normalization of the system".  
Related to electronic filing, is there a maximu m allowable size for an electronic file that 
can be accepted by DDS?  
Reply 
No, there is no maximum allowable size for electronic files in the DDS. 
Does DECOM have established procedures in plac e to address large file sizes? If so, what 
are they and where can inte rested parties find them? 
There is no particular procedure in place regarding this issue, since there has never been an 
occasion in which a file has not been accepted because of its size.  
Question 3 
In the seven months DDS has been in effe ct, how has DECOM addressed any technical 
issues that have arisen? For example, is ther e a help desk or dedicated staff to assist 
with technical issues? 
Reply 
Whenever an interested party would claim technical difficulties, DECOM would redirect such 
interested party to the Ministry's help desk staff, which has been trained to assist users of the 
DDS. In addition, our help desk staff has made available a Q&A composed of the most common 
technical issues and questions raised by DDS users. 
Have changes been made to the DDS system  based on user feedback? If so, please 
provide examples and explain what changes DECOM has made to DDS. 
Reply 
Yes, there have been changes made to the DDS ba sed on users' feedbacks. For instance, we have 
recently changed the layout of the case files, in a way to make it more user-friendly. We have also 
improved our uploading mechanism, in order to make it quicker.  G/ADP/Q1/BRA/32 • G/SCM/Q1/BRA/32 
 
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  Question 4 
Once a final determination has been issued  and a case is complete, are interested 
parties able to access the administrative record through DDS? If so, for how long? For example, if a final determination in an anti dumping investigation was issued in February 
2015, would interested parties be able to acce ss the record of that investigation later in 
the year? What about subsequent years? 
Reply  
Once a final determination has been issued and a case is complete, interested parties will still be 
able to access case records until the end of the period for filing of administrative appeals or writs of mandamus.  
At what point would the general public (i.e., not just interested parties) be able to 
access the non-confidential record of an invest igation? If the general public is not given 
access to non-confidential files submitted to  DECOM, please explain why this would be 
the case. 
Reply  
The general public is never given access to DECOM's non-confidential files, since, according to the 
Brazilian Legislation, the information contained in such files regard sensitive trading matters.  
Question 5 
Please explain how the case record is preserved, and how it would be presented for 
judicial review. 
Reply  
The Ministry's General Coordination of Informat ion Technology provides for the backups of all 
information stored in DECOM Digital System, even after an investigation is terminated and the parties cannot access it. 
 
In the event of a judicial review, the case record  would be presented in the format requested by 
the judge.  
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