WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/RL/GEN/74 
17 October 2005 
 (05-4727) 
Negotiating Group on Rules Original:   English 
  
 
FURTHER SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS ON SUNSET 
 
Communication from Chile;  Hong Kong, China;  Japan;  Korea, Rep. of;  
Norway;  Switzerland;  Separate Customs Territory of  
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu;  and Thailand.  
  
 The following communication, dated 13 October 2005, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegations of Chile;  Hong Kong, China;  Japa n;  Korea, Rep. of;  Norway;  Switzerland;  
Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Pe nghu, Kinmen and Matsu;  and Thailand. 
 
 The submitting delegations have requested that this paper, which was submitted to the Rules 
Negotiating Group as an informal document (JOB(05)/ 246), also be circulated as a formal document. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
 This paper elaborates upon the proposals contained in document TN/RL/W/76 (Sunset).
1  The 
following proposed amendments to the Anti-Dumping Agreement  do not represent a final position and 
may be subject to further addition, modification, and/or deletion in the c ourse of the negotiations. 
 
I. PROPOSED AMENDMENT: 
11.3      Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2, an y definitive anti-dumping 
duty measure  shall be terminated on a date not later th an five years from its imposition (or from the 
date of the most recent review under paragraph 2 if that review has covered both dumping and injury, 
or under this paragraph), unless the authorities determ ine, in a review initiated before that date on 
their ow n initiative or upon a duly substantiated request made by or on behalf of the domestic industry 
within a reasonable period of time prior to that date , that the expiry of the duty would be likely to lead 
to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury.22  The duty may remain in force pending the 
outcome of such a review.  
 
Explanation:  
 The problem is that the sunset system does not  function in a way the name suggests.  In a 
practical sense, as we understood it at the conclusion of the UR, the structure of the current provision (“…shall be terminated…, unless…”) suggests that mo st, if not all, AD measures will be terminated 
after 5 years.  However, the current situation is that the undue emphasis has been put on the ‘unless’ 
clause, resulting in the statistics in Annex I.    
                                                     
 
1 Another submission related to the sunset topic is TN/RL/W/111. TN/RL/GEN/74 
Page 2  
 
  This proposal is intended to restore the intrin sic meaning of the sunset system.  The proposal 
does not prejudice Members’ right to re-impose an anti-dumping measure through proper initiation 
under Article 5 and subsequent investigation, and it  should not be mischaracterized as forbidding any 
AD measure after 5 years.  
 The essence of the proposal is to preven t the case of extending AD measures through a 
forward-looking analysis (i.e., likelihood test).  After the lapse of the 5 years, exporters must be given 
clearance and a further restriction should only be made possible through an analysis on the current (or immediate past) situation (“ he is (has been) dumping ”) and not by the prediction of the future (“ he is 
likely to dump ”).   An anti-dumping measure must not be taken in a pre-emptive manner. 
  TN/RL/GEN/74 
 Page 3 
 
 
 <Annex> Statistics on the Duration of AD Measures2 
 
  1970-74  1975-79  1980-84  1985-89  1990-94  1995-99  2000-04  
Developed 
Member A 1 6 7 42 60 52 
(104) 111 
(115) 
 B     18 25 
(105) 78 
(88) 
 C   3 1 9 20 
(34) 45 
(46) 
Developing 
Member X       1 7  
(61) 187 
(241) 
 Y       3  
(65) 41 
(74) 
 
__________ 
 
 
                                                      
2 The Members in the table were chosen based on the total number of AD measures in the last 10 years 
(1995-2004). 
 The numbers in each cell represent th e number of AD measures taken in that period and remaining in 
force as of 31/12/2004.  The sources  are Members’ semi-annual reports to  the AD committee or the website of 
the investigating authorities where their semi-annual reports do not provide the first date of imposition of the measures. 
 
The numbers in ( ) are the total number of AD measures taken in that period from the WTO 
Secretariat’s statistics in the WTO website. 
 
The data may be inaccurate due to many practical  reasons including the di fference in the counting 
method, for instance, whether a duty measure and a price undertaking to the same exporting country are counted 
as one or two, and so forth.