./.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/GEN/119 
21 April 2006 
 (06-1860) 
Negotiating Group on Rules Original:   English 
  
ASSESSMENT OF STANDING 
 
Communication from Egypt
 
  
 The following communication, dated 20 April 2006,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Egypt. 
  The submitting delegation has requested that th is paper, which was submitted to the Rules 
Negotiating Group as an informal document (JOB(06)/ 102), also be circulated as a formal document. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
This proposal is aimed at ensuring that dom estic producers are in a position to effectively 
challenge the injurious effects of allegedly du mped imports and to clarify the methods that 
investigating authorities may use to ensure that domestic producers satisfy the requirements of 
Article 5.4 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement.  
 
Fragmented and un-organised  domestic industries 
 
The domestic industries of developing countries are often characterized by their 
fragmentation and lack of organisational structures.  Most of the domestic producers are very small in 
size, are very seldom represented in organisation and have limited opportunities to raise their concerns.  Because of their size, the situation of  these domestic producers is generally rapidly and 
particularly affected by dumped imports. It is thus important to ensure that they can effectively seek 
remedy against injurious dumping. 
  
In the framework of these negotiations, some Me mbers have proposed to tighten the current 
definitions of domestic industry and standing.  These proposals are based on the reasoning that the 
current provisions are inequitable since they may enable domestic producers accounting for less than 
50 percent of the total domestic production to lodge applications to initiate anti-dumping proceedings.  
Egypt considers that these proposals fail to take into account the reality of developing countries. 
Egypt is convinced that the adoption of an obligation to seek the express support of producers 
representing more than 50 per cent of total domestic  industry would put an inequitable burden on the 
shoulders of domestic producers of fragmented a nd unstructured industries.  For these industries, 
injurious dumping might have caused irreparable da mages by the time a majority of producers has 
been identified and convinced to expressly su pport an application pursuant to Article 5.
1.  
 
In view of the foregoing, Egypt considers that, unless an application is opposed by a majority 
of domestic producers, applicants should be grante d the possibility of requesting the initiation of an 
                                                      
 1 In many cases, it will not even be possible to identif y the majority of an industry, for instance if there 
is a very large number of small, unincorporated entities run by individuals or families. TN/RL/GEN/119 
Page 2  
 
  anti-dumping investigation as soon as an “ important, serious or significant ”
2 proportion  of the 
domestic producers are represented by the applicants.  Consequently, Egypt is of the opinion that the 
standing requirements, as set forth in  Article 5.4 should remain unchanged. 
 
Applications by associations of domestic producers 
  Article 5.2(i) provides that “ where a written application is made on behalf of a domestic 
industry, the application shall identify the industry on  behalf of which the applic ation is made by a list 
of all known domestic producers of the like product (o r associations of domestic producers of the like 
product)”.  Where applications are lodged by or on behalf  of associations of domestic producers, it is 
submitted that standing should be assessed by taki ng into account the production volume of all the 
members of these associations as a whole.  Investig ating authorities should not be required to examine 
whether or not each of the individual producers,  which are members of these associations, actually 
support the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation.  
 
Proposed Changes to Article 5.4  
In view of the foregoing, it is proposed to am end Article 5.4 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement 
as follows: 
 An investigation shall not be initiated pursu ant to paragraph 1 unless the authorities have 
determined, on the basis of an examination of the degree of support for, or opposition to, the 
application expressed
13 by domestic producers of the like product (or associations of domestic 
producers of the like product) , that the application has been made by or on behalf of the 
domestic industry.14  The application shall be consider ed to have been made “by or on 
behalf of the domestic industry” if it is supported by those domestic producers (or 
associations of domestic producers)  whose collective output constitutes more than 50 per cent 
of the total production of the like product produ ced by that portion of the domestic industry 
expressing either support for or opposition to the a pplication.  However, no investigation shall 
be initiated when domestic producers (or associations of domestic producers)  expressly 
supporting the application account for less than 25 per cent of total production of the like 
product produced by the domestic industry. 
 
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 2 This is the wording of the Panel in Argentina –  Definitive Anti-Dumping Duties on Poultry from 
Brazil  (WT/DS241/R), paras. 7.340 and 7.341. 
 13 In the case of fragmented in dustries involving an exceptionally large number of producers, 
authorities may determine support and opposition by using statistically valid sampling techniques. 
 14 Members are aware that in the te rritory of certain Members employees of domestic producers of the 
like product or representatives of those employees may make or support an application for an investigation under paragraph 1.