./. WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
TN/RL/GEN/68 
13 October 2005 
 (05-4672) 
Negotiating Group on Rules Original:   English 
   
PROPOSALS ON ARTICLE 5.8 OF THE ADA 
 
Communication from the Sepa rate Customs Territory 
of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu 
 
  The following communication, dated 12 October 2005, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of the Separate Customs Terr itory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. 
 
 The submitting delegation has requested that th is paper, which was submitted to the Rules 
Negotiating Group as an informal document (JOB(05)/ 231), also be circulated as a formal document. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
Introduction 
 
This paper is developed based on the earlier submissions of the Friends of Anti-Dumping 
Negotiations (FAN) (TN/RL/GEN/30/Rev.1, TN/RL/GE N/31/Rev.1).  The suggested text changes are 
included for the purpose of assessing the actual effect s of the relevant proposals to the current 
provision of Article 5.8 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement. 
 
Explanation of the proposals1: 
 
1. De minimis  margin of dumping 
 
We suggest that de minimis  margin of dumping should be increased to 5 per cent. 
 
2. Negligible dumped imports 
 
The proposed draft text moreover addresses anothe r problem with the current negligibility test 
regarding cumulation as it encourages domestic indus tries requesting antidumping relief to include as 
many small sources as possible, regardless of their individual impact on the industry in the importing 
country, merely to ensure that the collective 7 pe r cent threshold is met.  It is suggested that 
cumulation of negligible dumped imports shall not  include those exporting countries whose collected 
market share does not exceed 7 per cent of the domestic consumption. 
 
                                                      
 1 As mentioned in the introduction section, this paper does not further elaborate the proposals contained 
in the earlier relevant submissions of the FANs regarding revising the denominator of the threshold of 
negligibility test, and clarifying the time period for calculating negligibility. TN/RL/GEN/68 
Page 2  
 
Proposed Text 
 
Article 5.8: 
“...  There shall be immediate termination in cases where the authorities determine 
that the margin of dumping is de minimis , or that the volume of dumped imports, 
actual or potential, or the injury, is neg ligible.  The margin of dumping shall be 
considered to be de minimis  if this margin is less than 2 5 per cent, expressed as a 
percentage of the export price.  The vol ume of dumped imports shall normally be 
regarded as negligible if the volume of  dumped imports from a particular country 
during the period of dumping investigation is  found to account for less than 3 per cent 
of the domestic consumption imports of  the like product in the importing Member2, 
unless countries which individually account for less than 3 per cent of imports of the 
like product in the importing Member, collectively account for more than 7 per cent 
of imports of the like product in the importing Member. 
 
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 2 New footnote: In the event that countries which individually account for less than 3 per cent of the 
domestic consumption of the like product in the impor ting Member collectively acco unt for more than 7 per 
cent of domestic consumption of the like product in the importing Member, the volume of dumped imports regarded as negligible shall refer only to those from countries which collectively, by adding their volume of 
dumped imports in ascending order, account for less than 7 per cent of domestic consumption of the like product 
in the importing Member.