WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
G/SCM/Q1/CHN/54 8 April 2005 
 
(05-1471) 
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices 
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER  
ARTICLES 18.5 AND 32.6 OF THE AGREEMENTS 
 
Replies to Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES1 Regarding the  
Notification of  the PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA2 
  
 The following communication, dated 6 April 2005, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of the People's Republic of China. 
 
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Q1. Article 4 of the anti-dumping (AD) regu lations states that normal value can be 
calculated under certain conditions with referen ce to third-country sale or the cost of 
production of the like product plus a reasonable am ount for expenses and for profits.  In light of 
absence of any provision in the regulations corres ponding to article 2.2.2 of the Agreement on 
Implementation of Article VI of the Gen eral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994(ADA), 
please elaborate on how a reasonable amount for expenses and profits will be determined. 
 Reply
  
  A reasonable amount for expenses and profits will be determined according to the data 
submitted. In case the interested parties refuse to  provide relative information or do not provide 
necessary information within a reasonable time, the au thority may use facts available to determine the 
expenses and profits. 
 
Q2 Please explain the role of the Ministry of  Agriculture in the injury determination of 
agricultural AD and countervailing duty (CVD) inv estigations, as referenced in Article 7 of the 
AD regulations and Article 7 of the CVD regulations .  Please identify the regulations or other 
measures that govern the interaction between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of 
Commerce in such proceedings.  
Reply
  
  The anti-dumping investigations of injury in volving agricultural products shall be conducted 
by MOFCOM in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture.  It can be interpreted as that the 
investigations will be conducted mainly by MO FCOM, while the Ministry of Agriculture will 
cooperate in the process.  There is currently no other regulations or measures in this regard.  
 
                                                     
 
1 G/ADP/Q1/CHN/51-G/SCM/Q1/CHN/51 
2 G/ADP/N/1/CHN/2/Suppl.4 and G/SCM/N/1/CHN/1/Suppl. 4 (1 December 2004) and 
G/ADP/N/1/CHN/2/Suppl.3 and G/SCM/N/1/CHN/1/Suppl.3 (20 October 2004). G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
G/SCM/Q1/CHN/54 Page 2 
 
 
 Q3. Please describe how the factors of a "po ssibility of a significant increase in dumped 
imports" specified in Article 8(1) of the AD regulations and a “possibility of a significant increase in subsidized imports” specified in Article 8(2) of the CVD regulations will be assessed.  
How will this analysis differ from the analysis of capacity and inventories contemplated by 
Article 8(4) of the AD regulations and Article 8(5) of the CVD regulations?  Note that 
Article 3.7(i) of the ADA and Article 15.7(ii) of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) refer to "the likelihood of substantially increased importation" (emphasis 
supplied).  What difference in meaning is intended by the phrasing used in Articles 8(1) and 8(2) of the respective regulations, as compared to the phr asing used in Articles 3.7(i) and 15.7(ii) of 
the Agreements?    
Reply
.  
  Article 8 of the Anti-dumping Regulation and Countervailing Regulation make provisions for 
injury generally, which include both material injury and the threat of material injury.  The provisions 
on “the possibility of a significant increase in dum ped imports” in these articles as well as Article 8 
(4) of the Anti-Dumping Regulation and Article 8 (5 ) of the Countervailing Regulation all refer to the 
threat of injury.  The wording of “the possi bility of a significant increase in dumped imports” 
corresponds to Article 3.7(i) of ADA.  Provisions  concerning the production capacity, export capacity 
and inventory correspond to Artic le 3.7(ii) of ADA.  The wording “significant increase” here means 
the same with “substantial increase” in ADA and AS CM.  China’s investigating authority will make 
determinations on the threat of material injury  in accordance with Article 8 of the Rules on 
Investigations of Industry Injury for Anti-Du mping made by MOFCOM and with reference to 
Article 3.7 of ADA. 
 
Q4.  With regard to Article 8(2) of the AD regulations and Article 8(3) of the CVD 
regulations, please clarify whether, in the si tuation of price undercutting, prices will be 
compared to prices of a like product of the importing member in accordance with ADA Article 3.2 and ASCM Article 15.2.  
 Reply
  
  Yes, it will. 
 
Q5.  Article 8(3) of the AD regulations and Article 8(4) of the CVD regulations do not 
identify which factors China's administering authority will consider in conducting its examination of impact.  What “relevant economi c factors” will the auth ority consider?  Does 
China examine all impact factors specified in ADA Article 3.4 and ASCM Article 15.4?  
 
Reply
  
  “The relevant economic factors” to be examin ed by the investigating authority are all the 
factors listed in Article 3.4 of ADA and Article 15.4 of ASCM.  The authority may also examine other 
economic factors it deems to be relevant to injury.   
Q6. In regard to Article 8(4) of the AD regulations and Article 8(5) of the CVD regulations, 
does China’s examination of production capacity or export capacity of the exporting country 
focus on whether there is unused capacity, or an  imminent substantial increase in capacity, in 
the exporting country, as specified in ADA Article 3.7(ii) and ASCM Article 15.7(iii)?  If not, on what does it focus? 
  G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
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 Reply   
 
 Article 8 (2) of the Rules on Investigati ons of Industry Injury for Anti-Dumping and 
Article 8 (3) of the Rules on Investigations of Industry Injury for Countervailing Measures provide 
that the investigating authority shall examine th e sufficient freely disposable, or an imminent, 
substantial increase in, capacity of the exporter indicating the likelihood of substantially increased 
dumped exports to the importing Member's market, taking into account the availability of other export 
markets to absorb any additional exports. 
 
Q7.  In regard to Article 8(5) of the AD regulations and Article 8(6) of the CVD regulations, 
please elaborate on what "other factors" will be examined. 
 Reply
  Those factors include but are not limited to the relevant factors in Article 3.5 of ADA and 
Article 15.5 of ASCM.  Q8. Article 14 of the AD regulations and Arti cle 14 of the CVD regulations do not contain 
any provision specifying that an application ma de on behalf of the domestic industry must 
identify the industry on behalf of which it is made by a list of all known producers of the like product.  How does China ensure that any such ap plication comply with the requirements of the 
last sentence in ADA Article 5.2(i) and/or of ASCM Article 11.2(i)? 
 
Reply
 
  Article 12 of Provisional Rules on Initiation of Anti-Dumping Investigations provides as 
follows: 
 
 The description of the identity of the a pplicant shall contain the following supporting 
materials:  (1) Applicant’s name, legal representa tive, address, telephone number, facsimile number, 
post code, contact person, etc.;  (2) Where an atto rney at law is appointed by the applicant, the 
attorney’s name, his/her identity and other informat ion shall be specified and the Power of Attorney 
be provided;  (3) Volume of the production of the like product produced by the applicant in the last 
three years prior to the submission of the appli cation and its proportion it accounts for in the total 
volume of the domestic production of the like produc t; (4) List of all known domestic producers of the 
like product; if the domestic producers of the like pr oduct have organized an association or a chamber 
of commerce, the relevant information concerning th at association or chamber of commerce, such as 
the name, address, telephone number, facsimile number, postcode and contact person, etc. 
  According to this Article, the proportion of th e applicant’s production in the total volume of 
the domestic production and a list of all known producer s of the like products should be contained in 
the application.   In Provisional Rules on Initiation of Count ervailing Investigations, there have similar 
provisions. 
 
Q9. In regard to Article 19 of the AD regulations and Article 19 of the CVD regulations, how 
will the Ministry of Commerce provide the full te xt of the written application to the known 
exporters and to the authorities of the exportin g Member?  Will the Ministry also make such 
full text available, upon request, to other interested parties involved, as required by ADA Article 6.1.3 and ASCM Article 12.1.3, and if so, how?   
 G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
G/SCM/Q1/CHN/54 Page 4 
 
 
 Reply
  
  As soon as an antidumping investigation or countervailing investigation is initiated, the 
Ministry of Commerce will provide the full text of the written application and the notice of initiation 
to all known exporters, and the Ministry of Co mmerce will provide the written application and the 
notice of initiation to the embassies to China of the involved WTO members or convey the written application and initiation notice to certain separat e customs territory member of the WTO via PRC 
Permanent Mission to the WTO.  The Ministry of Co mmerce will also make the full text available in 
antidumping non-confidential information unit in which the other interested parties might acquire its 
copy freely.  
 
Q10. Please describe the steps taken by the Ministry of Commerce to identify known 
exporters for notification under ADA Ar ticle 6.1 and ASCM Article 12.1. 
 Reply
  
  According to ADA Article 6.1 and ASCM Ar ticle 12.1, the Ministry of Commerce will 
provide the full text of the written application to the exporters directly and through the authorities of 
the involved WTO members or certain separate customs territory Member.  Q11. Would China please explain what is meant by the other interested organizations and parties referenced at the conclusion of the first  paragraph of Article 19 of the AD regulations 
and Article 19 of the CVD regulations, and identify who those organizations/parties might be? 
 
Reply
  
 
 The other interested organizations and parti es referenced at the conclusion of the first 
paragraph of Article 19 of the AD regulations a nd Article 19 of the CVD regulations may include: 
trade or business associations a majority of th e members of which are producers, exporters or 
importers of such product, producers of the like prod uct in PRC, or trade and business associations a 
majority of the members of which produce the like product in the territory of PRC. 
 
Q12. In regard to Article 16 of the AD regula tions and Article 16 of the CVD regulations, 
would China please explain what constitutes receipt of the application for the purposes of the 60-day deadline to initiate an investigation? 
 Repl
y  
  Just on the same day of receiving the application alleging dumping or subsidy, the Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports & Exports of the Ministry of Commerce will offer a formal letter of receipt for the purposes of the 60-day deadline to initiate an i nvestigation to the applicant.  And this letter 
constitutes the receipt of the application. 
 
Q13. In regard to Article 20 of the AD regulations and article 20 of the CVD regulations, 
please explain what opportunities are provided fo r interested parties to meet parties with 
adverse interests so that opposing views may be  presented and rebuttal arguments offered, as 
required by ADA Article 6.2.  In addition to public hearings, does the Ministry of Commerce 
accept any oral communication as evidence in  antidumping proceedings?  If so, how it 
maintains a record of such communications a nd make such information known to other 
interested parties? 
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 Reply   
  In addition to public hearings, the authorit y also provides the interested parties with 
opportunities to present opposing views by submitting argum ents and information.  Interested parties 
also have the right, on justification, to present othe r information orally, reproduced in written form in 
due course.  They are put to file av ailable for other interested parties. 
 
Q14. In regard to on-the-spot verification, w ill China please confirm that the administering 
authority must obtain the agreement of the firms concerned, as specified in ADA Article 6.7 and 
ASCM Article 12.6?  
Reply
  
  As provided for in Article 9 of Provisiona l Rules on On-the-spot Verification in Anti-
Dumping Investigations, before the on-the-spot verification is conducted, MOFCOM shall obtain 
explicit agreement of the exporters  and the producers concerned.  
 
Q15. With regard to Article 22 of the AD regulat ions and Article 22 of the CVD regulations, 
what measures has the Ministry of Commerce take n to ensure that non-confidential summaries 
of confidential documents submitted to or ge nerated by the Ministry are made available to 
interested parties pursuant to ADA Article 6.5.1 and ASCM Article 12.4.1?   
Reply
 
  With regard to Article 22, MOFCOM has issued Provisional Rules for Access to Public 
Information in Anti-Dumping Investigations and de signated an official place, which is the public 
reading room for anti-dumping inves tigation and reviews, for all the interested parties’ access to the 
public information related to specific anti-dumping case.  
Q16. In regard to Article 23 of the AD regula tions and Article 23 of the CVD regulations, 
would China please explain what measures the Mi nistry of Commerce has in place to provide 
prompt and timely access to information, as required by ADA Articles 6.1.2 and 6.4 and ASCM 
Articles 12.1.2 and 12.3. 
 
Reply
 
 
 All the public documents related to the anti- dumping cases would be put in the public reading 
room in a timely manner after received by the auth orities and are readily accessible for all interested 
parties related to the specific antidumping case.   
Q17. Do the provisions of Article 27 of the AD regulations and Article 28 of the CVD 
regulations apply to preliminary as well as final determinations? 
 
Reply
  
  According to the specific situation of each particular case, where relevant issues could be 
determined in the preliminary determination, the provisions of Article 27 of the AD regulations and 
Article 28 of the CVD regulations would apply to preliminary determinations as well.  
 
Q19. Article 37 of the AD regulations states that "[i]mposition and collection of anti-dumping 
duties shall be in the public interest".  Article 38 of the CVD regulations states that "[i]mposition and collection of countervailing duties shall be in the public interest".  Do these G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
G/SCM/Q1/CHN/54 Page 6 
 
 
 statements represent a requirement for authoriti es to determine whether duties are in the public 
interest in a particular case, or a regulatory co nclusion that duties are always in the public 
interest?  If this represents a requirement to conduct a public interest test, would China please 
clarify the criteria for such a test, which partie s are considered to constitute the “public” for 
purposes of the test, and whether this determinat ion will be made by the Ministry of Commerce 
or State Council Tariff Commission?  In applying any public interest test, do Chinese authorities consider whether the imports to which duties may be applied are from a developing country? 
 Reply
  
  The concept of “public interest” covers a variety of interests of different parties.  So far, the 
implementing rules with regard to Article 37 of th e AD regulations need more consultations and are 
still in the process of studying. In each ongoing anti-dumping investigation, the authorities are open to 
the comments from the interest parties concerning the public interest in the whole investigation 
procedure and all comments would be taken into consideration.   
Q21. Article 44 of the AD regulations specifies that measures such as “import registration” 
may be taken under certain circumstances.  What is meant by "import registration" and what 
are the rules governing this procedure?  Ho w is this consistent with ADA Article 10.6? 
 
Reply
  
  Import registration is the measure to ensure  and facilitate the collection of anti-dumping 
duties retroactively.  After initiating an investiga tion, when the authorities have sufficient evidence 
that the conditions set forth in the Article 44 for th e collection of anti-dumping duties retroactively are 
satisfied, the authorities may take such measures as import registration which is necessary.  These provisions are consistent with ADA Article 10.6 and 10.7.   
Q23. In regard to Article 47 of the AD regulatio ns, what rate of duty will be applied to a new 
exporter which does not apply for a separate det ermination of the margin of dumping?  For 
new exporters which do apply for a separate dete rmination of the margin of dumping, how will 
the level and form of “measures” under Articl e 28 of the AD regulations be determined?  
 
Reply
  
 
 According to China’s current practice, the ra te used by “all others” companies would be 
applied to a new exporter which does not apply for a separate determination of the margin of dumping 
according to Article 47 of the Anti-Dumping Regula tions.  For new exporters which do apply for a 
separate determination of the margin of dumping,  we will require provision of cash deposit according 
to the “all others” anti-dumping rate.   Q25. Please describe the "appropriate measures" which may be taken to prevent circumvention under Article 55 of the AD Regulati ons and Article 54 of the CVD regulations.  
What procedures will be followed?  How does China define the term "circumvention"? 
 
Reply
  
 
 According to the stipulations of the Anti-dumping regulations and the Anti-subsidy 
regulations of China, the investigating author ity may take appropriate measures to prevent 
circumvention of anti-dumping measures and anti-s ubsidy measures.  The appropriate measures  G/ADP/Q1/CHN/54 
 G/SCM/Q1/CHN/54 
 Page 7 
 
 
 include collecting duty which maintains the validity  of the anti-dumping measures and anti-subsidy 
measures.   China has been making a research seriously on an ti-circumvention.  We noticed that there are 
the legislation and the practice of anti-circumven tion in the United States and European Community 
which bring much attention from other WTO members especially the developing countries.   We think that only after strict and pruden tial investigations may the anti-circumvention 
actions be taken.  In China, there are still no publicized rules regarding the anti-circumvention 
investigation procedure and the de termination of circumvention.  
 
Q27. In regard to Article 58 of the AD regulatio ns and Article 57 of the CVD regulations, are 
implementing measures currently being developed?  Please explain the topics covered by any such measures. 
 
Reply
  
  So far, the authorities have promulgate d a number of provisiona l implementing rules 
regarding dumping and injury, which has all be en notified to the WTO.  Please refer to the 
notification.  
 
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