WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/ADP/Q1/VNM/1 
G/SCM/Q1/VNM/1 7 April 2010 
 
(10-1821) 
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 
 
Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES Regarding   
the Notification of VIETNAM1 
   The following communication, dated 1 April 2010, is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of the United States.   
 
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  The United States thanks Viet Nam for its notif ication and poses the following questions with 
regard to Viet Nam's re-notification of its Or dinance Against Dumping of Imported Goods Into 
Viet Nam (hereinafter Ordinance ) and its Decree Making Detailed Provisions For Implementation of 
the Ordinance (hereinafter Decree ).   
 
Question 1 
  Please clarify the following regarding the definition of "domestic industry":   
  a. Does Viet Nam automatically exclud e from its domestic industry pursuant to 
Article 2.5 of the Ordinance  those producers that import the article under 
investigation?  Are there any criteria Vi et Nam uses in considering whether to 
exclude such producers from the domestic industry?  If so, please identify those 
criteria.   
  b. Article 4.1 of the Agreement on Impl ementation of Article VI of the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (hereinafter ADA) defines the domestic industry as "the domestic producers as a whole of the like products or [to] those of 
them whose collective output of the products constitutes a major proportion of the 
total domestic production of tho se products ...".  The definition in Article 2.5 of the 
Ordinance consists of a restatement of the "m ajor proportion" section of the Article 
4.1 definition, but does not incorporate the other part of the definition to include a reference to the "domestic producers as a whole".  Please explain how Article 2.5 of 
the Ordinance is consistent with Article 4.1 of the ADA.   
 
Question 2 
 
 Article 2.7 of the Ordinance defines the term "material injury to a domestic industry".  It lists 
seven factors that the investigati ng authority should consider in ma king an injury determination.  
                                                     
 
1 G/ADP/N/1/VNM/1.   G/ADP/Q1/VNM/1 
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  Article 12.2 of the Ordinance  specifies "elements" that must be examined in ascertaining whether 
there is material injury or threat of material inju ry to the domestic industry.  None of the "elements" 
listed in Article 12.2 correspond to the se ven factors listed in Article 2.7.   
 
 a. Please clarify the relationship between Article 2.7 of the Ordinance  and Article 12.2 
of the Ordinance .  If the Vietnamese investigating authority finds "significant decline 
or growth" in the factors listed in Article  2.7, can it make an affirmative injury 
determination regardless of whatever find ings it may make concerning the elements 
specified in Article 12.2?   
 
 b. Please clarify the nature of the findings th e authority must make with respect to the 
seven factors listed in Ordinance  Article 2.7.  Please clarify whether the investigating 
authority must consider whether there has been "significant reduction or inhibition to growth" in each of these factors, or whether it must actually find that there has been 
"significant reduction or inhibition to growth" in all seven factors before it can make 
an affirmative injury determination.   
  c. Article 12.2(b) of the Ordinance  requires the authority to consider price depression or 
suppression in its analysis of price effects.  It does not reference price undercutting.  
Please explain how Article 12.2(b) is consis tent with Article 3.2 of the ADA.   
 
 d. Please explain how Viet Nam satisfies the requirement to examine all impact factors 
specified in Article 3.4 of the ADA.  While Article 12.2(c) of the Ordinance  requires 
examination of impact, it does not reference any of the impact factors listed in Article 3.4 of the ADA.  By contrast, Article 2.7 of the Ordinance , which does not purport to 
address impact, references some Article 3.4 factors, but does not list other factors 
such as capacity utilization, market share, the magnitude of the dumping margin, cash 
flow, inventories, wages, and ability to raise capital.   
 
Question 3 
  Please explain how Viet Nam implements the requirements of Article 3.7 of the ADA 
concerning threat of material injury.  Neither the threat definition in Article 2.8 of the Ordinance  nor 
any part of Article 12 of the Ordinance references the threat factors set forth in Article 3.7 of 
the ADA.   
 
Question 4  
 Does Viet Nam conduct a cumulated analysis wh en imports from more than one country are 
simultaneously subject to investigation, as permitted by Article 3.3 of the ADA?   
 
Question 5 
 
 How does Viet Nam implement the requirement of Article 6.9 of the ADA that the investigating authority inform all interested pa rties of the essential facts under consideration in 
sufficient time for parties to defend their inter ests?  Does Viet Nam undertake additional fact-finding 
after issuance of the preliminary conclusion under Article 31 of the Decree ?  If so, how does 
Viet Nam satisfy the requirement of ADA Article 6.9 to disclose the essential facts prior to issuing the 
final decision?    G/ADP/Q1/VNM/1 
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  Question 6 
 
Article 2.4 of the Ordinance  defines "negligible volume, quantity or value of imports dumped 
in Viet Nam."  ADA Art. 5.8 refers only to the "volume" of dumped imports in assessing negligibility, 
and not "quantity" or "value".  Similarly, in addressing the standing requirements for representatives 
of the domestic industry, Article 8.1 of the Ordinance  makes repeated references to "volume, 
quantity, or value" rather than "total production" , the term used in ADA Article 5.4 for measuring 
industry support for an application.  Please clarif y whether these language differences are intended or 
whether they are the result of translation discrepancies.   
 
Question 7 
 
Article 11 of the Ordinance refers to parties involved in the investigation process;  Article 14 
of the Decree  refers to persons involved in the process of handling antidumping cases.   
 
 a. Please identify the "other interested par ties" referenced in Article 14.4 of the Decree  
and clarify whether "other interested par ties" includes those parties referenced in 
Article 11.1 through Article 11.11 of the Ordinance.    
  b. Are parties required to register as an "interested party" under Viet Nam's law and, if 
so, what is the time limit for such registration?   
 
Question 8 
 
As provided for in ADA Article 6.4, will the inv estigating authority place in a public file and 
make available to interested parties non-confidentia l summaries of internally generated reports such 
as verification reports and the calculations made by the investigating authority in determining margins 
of dumping based on confidential information s ubmitted by other interested parties?   
 
Question 9 
 
Please confirm that the consultation process described in Article 14 of the Ordinance  and 
Article 29 of the Decree  is intended to address the exchange of  views between parties described in 
ADA Article 6.2.  Please describe the timing of the cons ultations.  Do consultations take place prior to 
or following a preliminary determination?  Question 10 
 
Article 17 (Preliminary conclusions) and Article 18 (Final conclusions) of the Ordinance  
reference the publication of conclu sions "by appropriate modes to the interested parties in the 
investigation process".  Similarly, Articles 31 and 33 of the Decree  provide for the publication of 
preliminary and final conclusions, and that such conclusions shall be made known to interested 
parties.  Please identify the official journal or g azette where such investigation conclusions will be 
published.  If the conclusions are available on-line,  please provide the relevant website address.   
 
Question 11 
  Article 12.2.2 of the ADA requires that the pub lic notice or report providing information on 
the matters of fact and law that have led to the imposition of a definitive duty contain reasons for the 
acceptance or rejection of relevant arguments or claims made by the exporters or importers.  How 
does Viet Nam implement this requirement?  Neither Article 18 of the Ordinance  nor Articles 33 
or 40 of the Decree  contains a comparable provision.   G/ADP/Q1/VNM/1 
G/SCM/Q1/VNM/1 Page 4 
 
 
  Question 12 
 
Article 21 of the Ordinance  and Articles 35-37 of the Decree  address price undertakings.   
 
 a. Article 21.5 states that "The Trade Minister  shall issue decisions to terminate the anti-
dumping investigation and apply the undertak ings if it deems such undertakings will 
eliminate the injurious effects of the dump ing or will prevent such an effect from 
taking place".  Please confirm that, in accordance with ADA Art. 8.4, the investigation of dumping and injury are "com pleted if the exporter so desires or the 
authorities so decide".   
  b. Articles 4.2 and 21 of the Ordinance  and Article 34 of the Decree  suggest that price 
undertakings may be negotiated directly between the exporting companies and the 
Vietnamese petitioners.  Such a scenario  does not appear to be permitted under 
Article 8 of the ADA.  Please explain how a price undertaking negotiated between 
foreign exporters and Vietnamese producers would be in compliance with ADA Article 8.  In addition, please explain wh ether Viet Nam has any safeguards in place 
to ensure that a price undertaking ne gotiated between foreign exporters and 
Vietnamese producers does not result in anti-competitive behaviour such as price 
fixing.   
 
Question 13 
 
 Article 24.2 of the Ordinance  directs the Trade Minister to conduct certain expiry 
proceedings, but does not indicate what standards the Mi nister is to use in determining whether or not 
an order should be revoked.  How does Viet Na m implement the requirements of Article 11.2 of 
the ADA? 
 
Question 14  
Art. 42 of the Decree  addresses new shipper reviews and pr ovides for the prompt review of 
exporters/producers that did not export goods  during the period of investigation.   
  a. Please confirm that new shipper revi ews will be initiated and carried out on an 
accelerated basis, compared to normal duty assessment and review proceedings, as required by ADA Art. 9.5.   
 
 b. What antidumping rate will new shippers be assigned until such time as the review is 
completed?  How will such rate be calculated?   
  
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