WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/ADP/AHG/W/192 
5 October 2011  
 
(11-4826) 
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices 
Working Group on Implementation Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
ARTICLE 5.3 - ACCURACY AND ADEQUACY 
 
Paper by Colombia 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 4 October 2011, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of Colombia.  
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  Colombia is pleased to submit to the Workin g Group on Implementation the following paper 
describing how the investigating authority, the Sub- Directorate of Trade Practices in the Directorate 
of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, examines the accuracy and adequacy of the evidence provide d to initiate an investigation. 
 
1. WTO Rule 
 Article 5.3 of the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement provides as follows: 
 
 "The authorities shall examine the accuracy and adequacy of the evidence provided in the 
application to determine whether there is suffic ient evidence to justify the initiation of an 
investigation."  
 
2. Colombian legal framework 
 Chapter IV of the Decree 2550 of 2010 regula ting the application of anti-dumping duties 
stipulates: 
 
Article 25.  Acceptance of application.  If the investigating authority, on examination 
of the application, finds that it meets the requirements of the preceding Article, it shall accept it.  Acceptance shall be notified to the applicant within the next five days. 
If the investigating authority finds it necessa ry to request missing information for the 
purpose of accepting the application, it shall ask the applicant to provide it.  This 
request shall interrupt the period establis hed in the preceding paragraph, which shall 
start anew when the applicant supplies the information requested. 
If, after one month following the request fo r missing information, such information 
has not been supplied in full, the applican t shall be considered to have withdrawn the 
application and the information supplied shall be returned to the applicant. 
 G/ADP/AHG/W/192 
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  Article 26.  Evaluation of the grounds for the application in order to decide whether 
to initiate an investigation.  The investigating authority shall have a period of 
20 days following the date of dispatch of th e notification of acceptance to evaluate, as 
far as possible, the accuracy and adequacy of  the information and evidence provided 
and to decide whether there are gr ounds to initiate an investigation. 
At this stage, the investigating authority  may order and examine evidence ex officio 
or at the request of an interested party. 
Determination of the grounds for initiati ng a dumping investigation shall be subject 
to compliance with the following: 
1. Confirmation, by verifying the deg ree of support for, or opposition to, the 
application, that it has been made by or on  behalf of the domestic industry.  For this 
purpose, the investigating authority may se nd notifications to the known domestic 
producers or associations, which within five days from the day following the date of 
dispatch of the notification shall express in writing their support for, or opposition to, 
the application.  This period may be extended by up to five days, at the request of a 
party. 
If no reply is received within the specified period, this shall indicate that there has 
been no expression of interest on the part of the domestic producer or association 
concerned. 
2. The existence of evidence that cons titutes sufficient proof of dumping, the 
existence of injury or threat of injury or retardation and a causal link between these 
elements. 
Paragraph:   For the purposes of establishing  the accuracy and adequacy of the 
evidence supplied by the applicant in order to determine whether there is sufficient 
evidence to justify the initiation of an in vestigation, the investigating authority may, 
either ex officio or at the request of a par ty, extend the period specified in the first 
paragraph of this Article, once only, for up to 20 additional days. 
3. Colombian practice 
 Before ordering the initiation of an investig ation, the Colombian investigating authority 
evaluates the evidence submitted by the applicants.  When it receives an application, the investigating 
authority begins by checking to ensure that it co mplies with the content requirements set out in 
Decree 2550 and listed below, and issues a notificati on of acceptance before proceeding to evaluate 
the grounds for initiating the investigation. 
 
 Identification of the applicant company or companies; 
 identification of the product or products under investigation; 
 identification of the country or countries of origin of the imports; 
 main arguments put forward by the appli cant to justify the application for the 
initiation of an anti-dumping investigation; 
 information on prices at which the product unde r consideration is sold when destined 
for consumption in the domestic markets of the country or countries of origin or  G/ADP/AHG/W/192 
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  export or, where appropriate, information on the prices at which the product is sold 
from the country or countries of origin or export to a third country or to third countries or on the reconstructed value of the product.  This information may be 
taken, inter alia , from price lists, quotations, invoices, market surveys, specialized 
reviews or import statistics; 
 information on export prices or, where appropriate, on the prices at which the product 
is first resold to an independent buyer in Colombia.  This information may be taken, 
inter alia , from price lists, quotations, invoices, market surveys, specialized reviews 
or import statistics; 
 information on the trend in the volume of imports of the product under consideration 
allegedly dumped, their effect on prices of  the like product in the domestic market 
and the consequent impact of the imports on the domestic industry, as demonstrated 
by relevant factors and indices having a bearing on the state of the domestic industry; 
 an offer to submit the corresponding document s to the authorities for verification of 
the information supplied, and to aut horize visits for verification purposes; 
 elements for determining the causal link between the dumping and the injury; 
 the evidence it is intended to adduce (i.e. all of the financial and economic 
information regarding the production lines under investigation). 
(a) Representativeness 
 To evaluate the grounds for the application, the investigating authority uses the information 
provided by the applicant in the application fo r an anti-dumping investigation and checks, by 
verifying the degree of support for, or opposition to, the application, that it has been made by or on 
behalf of the domestic industry.  To that end, the investigating authority may send notifications to the 
known domestic producers or associations.  
 The Colombian investigating authority evaluat es the evidence submitted in the application for 
an anti-dumping investigation in order to determin e the applicant's representativeness percentage in 
the domestic industry.  For the purposes of initiating an  investigation, an application is considered to 
have been made by or on behalf of the domestic  industry if it is supported by those domestic 
producers whose collective output constitutes more th an 50 per cent of the total production of the like 
product produced by that portion of the domestic in dustry expressing either support for or opposition 
to the application. 
 (b) Description of the product under investigation 
 The aim of this part of the opening stage, as its name suggests, is to be able to provide a clear 
description of the product or products under inv estigation for the purposes of identification.  
Consequently, the following elements are verified according to the case: 
 
 Trade name 
 Tariff subheading 
 Function or use 
 Subtypes G/ADP/AHG/W/192 
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   Input required for manufacturing 
 Production process 
 Other characteristics deemed necessary to identify the product or products and not 
covered by the previous items. 
(c) Likeness 
 At this point, in the light of Article 4(q) of Decree 2550 of 2010, a verification is conducted 
of the arguments put forward by the applicant to demonstrate likeness between the domestic product 
or products and the imported products through cons ultations by the investigating authority with the 
Domestic Goods Production Group of the Ministry of  Trade, Industry and Tourism with a view to 
establishing whether the products are alike.  (d) Evaluation of sufficient proof of dumping, the ex istence of injury or threat of injury or 
retardation and a causal link between these elements. 
 Determination of dumping 
 In order to identify the dumping and the margin of dumping, the Colombian investigating 
authority examines the information in the applica tion submitted by the applicant companies.  An 
evaluation is conducted to determin e the difference between the normal value and the export price of 
the products to which the application refers.  Moreover,  before beginning to compile the data that will 
serve as a basis for the analysis of imports, the im port declaration database used as an official source 
by the customs authority (National Revenue and Customs Directorate - DIAN) is updated. 
  The accuracy and adequacy of the applicant's methodology and calculation is evaluated.  This 
information must correspond to the required period of examination to determine whether there is 
proof of dumping of the imports under investigation. 
 
 The calculation of the export price is weighted by transaction.  Unless the application has provided more sound information on the export price, the Colombian customs authorities will 
generally always use the information provided by the DIAN.   Furthermore, in order to compare the normal va lue and the export price in a statistically valid 
manner, adjustments are made to bring both prices to the same level of trade.  In particular, 
consideration has to be given to the costs derivi ng from the conditions of sale of the product under 
investigation, i.e. costs relating to transport, insu rance, maintenance, unloading, packaging, packing, 
and credit, as well as allied costs in curred in forwarding the product in  question.  Further adjustments 
are made for the costs of providing guarantees, technical assistance and other after sale services, 
commissions paid in respect of the sales in question, duties, taxes, and the corresponding profits. 
 
 Examination of material injury and the causal link 
 Assessment of the volume of imports of the products under consideration involves an 
objective examination of the volume of dumped import s, particularly to determine whether there has 
been any significant increase in such imports, either in absolute terms or relative to total production 
and consumption. 
  The investigating authority determines whether the imports of the product under investigation 
are negligible or not.   G/ADP/AHG/W/192 
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   As explained earlier, imports are examined  using the information from the DIAN import 
declaration database.   As regards the evaluation of economic and fi nancial variables relating to the domestic 
industry, this involves the examination of indicat ors such as output, domestic sales, market share, 
inventories, investigated imports in relation to pr oduction and consumption in Colombia, utilization of 
installed capacity, productivity, employment, wages,  domestic prices, profits, return on investment, 
cash flow, and the ability of the domestic industry to raise capital or investment.  
At the same time, a specific analysis is conducte d to break down the effect of the investigated 
imports on production for the domestic market into it s constituent variables - production, productivity, 
utilization of installed capacity and investigated imports against output.   This is done by taking the six-monthly statements of income and sales costs and the input table of the production line for the products under inv estigation for the period of examination, as well 
as the basic financial statements for the company as a whole, submitted by the applicants and duly 
certified and audited, in relation to the same period.   As for the examination of the causal link in d eciding on the initiation of an investigation, the 
investigating authority must determine specifically whether imports have increased in such quantities 
and under such conditions as to provide evidence of cau sing or threatening to cause material injury to 
the domestic industry. 
  In the process of examining imports, material injury and causality, the investigating authority 
also studies the behaviour of the Colombian market , of imports and of the domestic industry on an 
annual and six-monthly basis. 
 
 Confidentiality of the application 
 The investigating authority must avoid any publicizing of the submission of an application for 
an investigation before a decision to initiate an i nvestigation has been made.  However, in the period 
between the acceptance of an appli cation and the initiation of an inv estigation, it shall notify the 
government of the exporting country or countries con cerned that an application has been submitted. 
 
 Decision to initiate investigation 
 If the examination of the application rev eals that there are grounds to initiate the 
investigation, i.e. sufficient evidence of dumping, materi al injury or threat of material injury, and of a 
causal link between these elements, the investigating authority prepar es a technical report so that the 
Directorate of Foreign Trade can take the decision to  order the initiation of the investigation through a 
reasoned resolution that is published in the Official Journal. 
 
 Similarly, if it is found that there are no grounds for initiating the investigation, the Directorate decides accordingly through a reasoned resolution with in the same deadlines established 
in Article 26 of Decree 25 50 of 2010 for initiation. 
 
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