WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/ADP/Q1/DOM/6 
G/SCM/Q1/DOM/6 7 October 2009 
 
 
(09-4828) 
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Original:   Spanish 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER 
ARTICLES 18.5 AND 32.6 OF THE AGREEMENTS  
 
Responses to Questions Posed by the UNITED STATES
1 Regarding  
the Notification of the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC2 
   The following communication, dated 5 October 2009, is being circulated at the request of the delegation of the Dominican Republic. 
 
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Question 1
 
 
 Please explain whether the Tax and Admini strative Litigation Tribunal, described in 
Articles 13 through 15 of the Implementing Regulations for Law No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard Measures (hereinafter " Regulations "), has the authority to approve, 
reject or request reconsideration of decisions by  the Commission for the Regulation of Unfair 
Trade Practices and Safeguards Measures ("Commission"). 
 
Response
 
  Article 29 of Law No. 1494 of 1947 establishing the administrative courts stipulates that 
"[t]he ruling may decide on the merits of the case or  order such investigative measures as may have 
been requested by the parties, where deemed appropriate by the Tribunal for clarifying the case". 
  Article 15 of the Implementing Regulations fo r Law No. 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices and 
Safeguard Measures ("the Regulations") further provi des that "[t]he Tax and Administrative Litigation 
Tribunal shall promptly ensure that the administ rative procedures followed by the Commission when 
determining anti-dumping or countervailing duties or safeguard measures complied with the 
provisions of the Law and these Regulations". 
  Hence the Tribunal is required to examine issues relating to the Commission's compliance 
with procedural provisions.  
 As regards determinations c oncerning substantive issues such as determining the margin of 
dumping, it is expected that the Tax and Administra tive Litigation Tribunal will define its sphere of 
jurisdiction through its rulings.  
                                                     
 
1 G/ADP/Q1/DOM/5-G/SCM/Q1/DOM/5. 
2 G/ADP/N/1/DOM/3/Suppl.1-G/SCM/N/1/DOM/2/Suppl.1-G/SG/N/1/DOM/2/Suppl.1. G/ADP/Q1/DOM/6 
G/SCM/Q1/DOM/6 Page 2 
 
 
  Question 2
 
 
 Articles 11, 42, 77 and 100 of the Regulations  indicate that decisions by the Commission 
will be issued in the form of a resolution that  will be recorded on a medium available to the 
public.  
 (a) Please identify the official journa l and/or national newspapers which will 
publish resolutions related to anti-dumping and countervailing duty proceedings. 
 
 (b) Will all resolutions issued by the Commission (e.g., initiation/termination of 
investigations, preliminary/final determ inations, scope rulings) be published? 
 
 (c) Will these resolutions be also made ava ilable online?  If so, please identify the 
relevant website address(es). 
 
Response
 
  The Dominican Republic is fully aware of th e importance of transparency in implementing 
the provisions of the Anti-dumping Agreement, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures and the Agreement on Safeguards.  Law No . 1-02 on Unfair Trade Practices and Safeguard 
Measures ("the Law") and the Regulations lay down obligations in that respect. 
  In general terms, Article 11 of the Regulati ons provides that "[b]oth general and specific 
decisions by the Commission relating to investigation pr ocedures that affect third or interested parties 
shall be issued in the form of a resolution, which shall be dated, numbered consecutively and recorded 
on a medium available to the public
" (emphasis added). 
  Some Articles of the Regulations contain speci fic provisions in this regard.  Articles 77(i) 
and 248, for example, respectively stipulate that in  the event of withdrawal "the corresponding notice 
[shall be published] in  a national newspaper
 and on the Commission's website " (emphasis added), and 
that in the event of a decision regarding initiatio n the Commission "shall notify interested parties by 
publishing a notice regarding the initiation of a safegua rd investigation in a national daily newspaper " 
(emphasis added).  
(a) The Regulations specify that the resoluti ons are to be published in a national daily 
newspaper, which in the Dominican Republic are " El Caribe ", "Hoy", "Listín Diario ", 
"El Nacional ", "El Día ", "El Nuevo Diario " and " Diario Libre ".  The resolutions may 
be published in any of these newspapers. 
 
(b) The Law and the Regulations lay down the obligation for the Commission to publish 
certain resolutions or public notices relating to  the adoption of certain resolutions.  In 
anti-dumping investigations, the Commission is required to publish, inter alia , the 
initiating resolution (Article 42 of the Re gulations);  and any public notice of a 
preliminary or final determination, whether affirmative or negative, of a decision to 
accept a price undertaking, of the termination of such an undertaking, or of the termination of a definitive anti-dumping duty (Article 94 of the Regulations).  In 
countervailing duty investigations , it is required to publish, inter alia , the notice of 
initiation of an investigation (Article 166 of the Regulations);  the resolution rejecting 
an application (Article 166 of the Regulations);  the notice of a preliminary determination (Article 190 of  the Regulations);  and the public notice of a final 
determination (Article 205 of the Regulations).  G/ADP/Q1/DOM/6 
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(c) The website of the Commission can be viewed at:  www.cdc.gob.do .  In practice, the 
following resolutions can be found on the website:  the resolutions initiating an 
investigation and resolutions containing deci sions not to apply provisional measures.  
Depending on the circumstances, the decision is  taken to publish other resolutions on 
the website, thereby observing the right of in terested parties to have access to such 
resolutions, as provided for in the Law. 
 
Question 3  
 
 Article 18 (xxxiii) of the Regulations  indicates that, among others, sales to third parties 
related to an exporter under investigation are no t considered to be in the "ordinary course of 
trade."  Will related party sales automatically be considered outside the ordinary course of 
trade and excluded from the calculation of no rmal value, or will related party sales be 
considered in instances where they are demonstrated  to be at comparable prices to sales to 
unaffiliated customers? 
 
Response  
  The Commission is aware that practices differ among WTO Members in this regard.  It will 
decide, according to the circumstances,  which of these practices to apply. 
 
Question 4
 
 
 A comparison of Articles 29 and 151 of the Regulations  suggests that the 
Dominican Republic has different criteria for cumula tion in anti-dumping investigations than 
for cumulation in countervailing duty investigatio ns.  Article 151 sets forth two sets of criteria 
for cumulation in countervailing duty investigat ions;  Article 29 includes these and adds an 
additional criterion set forth in subsection (iii) for anti-dumping investigations. 
 
 (a) Could the Dominican Republic confirm this understanding? 
 
 (b) If the Dominican Republic simultaneously initiates anti-dumping and 
countervailing duty investigations concerning the same product, would the Commission cumulate the imports subject to the countervailing duty 
investigations with the imports subject to the anti-dumping duty investigations, 
assuming that the other criteria for cumulation were satisfied? 
 
Response
 
  (a) The Dominican Republic will address this matter if and when the case arises.  
 (b) See response to (a) above. 
 G/ADP/Q1/DOM/6 
G/SCM/Q1/DOM/6 Page 4 
 
 
  Question 5
 
 
 According to Article 39 of the Regulations , the Commission will decide whether or not to 
initiate an anti-dumping investigation within a period of 30 days (which may be extended to 
45 days under certain circumstances) from the date of receipt of the application.  At what point 
during this time period will the Commission no tify the government of the exporting Member 
concerned that an application has been received, as provided for in Article 5.5 of the Anti-dumping Agreement and Article 11.5 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures? 
 
Response
 
  To the extent that there are no specific provisi ons in the Law or the Regulations, the relevant 
provisions of the WTO Agreements apply directly. 
 
Question 6
 
 
 Article 48 of the Regulations  states that "the parties to the investigation may be given 
access to confidential information subject to authorization by the party that provided it" in anti-dumping investigations;  Article 176 of the Regulations  contains a similar provision 
applicable to countervailing duty investigations.  Does this mean that the Commission uses an 
administrative protective order system such as authorized under note 17 of the Anti-dumping Agreement and note 42 of the Subs idies Agreement?  If not, please explain how confidential 
information is protected under the Dominican Republic's system. 
 Response
 
  The Dominican Republic does not use the "administrative protective order" system.   Confidential information is not included in the publ ic file.  It is contained in the confidential 
record, access to which is reserved exclus ively for the members of the Commission. 
 
Question 7
 
 
 Article 50 of the Regulations  states the Commission will send questionnaires to any 
persons it considers may have information rele vant to the investigation, including known 
domestic producers, importers, exporters or fo reign producers.  Please explain how the 
Commission will identify the pa rties to receive questionnaires. 
 
Response  
  The Commission identifies the parties through the application and other sources to which it 
has access during the period of review of the appli cation (Customs, Directorate-General of Internal 
Taxes, Internet, etc.).  It also sends questionnaires to other parties that have registered, within the 
established time-limit, as interested parties in an investigation.   G/ADP/Q1/DOM/6 
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  Question 8  
 
 Article 63 of the Regulations  states that the Commission may  make a preliminary 
determination of dumping, injury or threat of injury and a causal link.  Similarly, Article 211 of 
the Regulations  states that the Commission may impose provisional countervailing measures if it 
makes an affirmative preliminary determination of  subsidization, injury and causal link.  Will 
the Commission make it a practice to routin ely issue a preliminary determination in its 
anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations ?  If not, please describe the circumstances 
under which a preliminary determination might not be issued. 
 
Response  
  The Commission is under no obligation to i ssue a preliminary determination in every 
investigation. 
 
 With further practical experience, the Commis sion will consider whether or not to routinely 
issue preliminary determinations in all investigations.  
Question 9
 
 
 As described in Article 78 of the Regulations , the Commission shall compile an 
administrative file in accordance with whic h it shall issue the corresponding resolutions. 
 
 (a) Please clarify whether non-confidential summaries of confidential information 
submitted by any given interested party will be made available to all other 
interested parties in a proceeding. 
 
 (b) Please describe how the Commission will ensure that sufficient non-confidential 
summaries are provided to interested parties. 
 
 (c) Please explain whether non-confidenti al case files are made available to the 
public and, if so, how public files m ay be accessed (e.g., public reading room, 
online). 
 
Response  
 
(a) Non-confidential summaries are available to all interested parties. 
 
(b) The Commission allows all interested parties to view the public file and reproduce its 
contents. 
 
(c) The Regulations do not provide for the public at large to have access to the 
non-confidential file.  However, the Gene ral Law on unrestricted access to public 
information (Law No. 200-04) generally provides for the right to information and access to files and minutes of an administrative nature (Articles 1 and 2). 
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  Question 10
 
 
 Article 95 of the Regulations states that "anti-dumping duties shall remain in force as 
long and to the extent necessary to counteract du mping which is causing injury."  There is no 
provision in the anti-dumping regulations analogous to Article 231 of the Regulations  pertaining 
to countervailing duty orders, which specifically re quires sunset reviews after five years.  How 
does the Dominican Republic implement the requirements of Article 11.3 of the Anti-dumping Agreement concerning sunset reviews of anti-dumping measures? 
 Response
 
  The Dominican Republic will directly apply the provisions of Article 11.3 of the Anti-dumping Agreement.  Question 11
 
 
 Article 122 of the Regulations  provides that "small-value grants" will be attributed in 
full to the year of receipt.  How will such "small-value grants" be defined? 
 
Response  
 
 The Commission will decide, if and when the case arises, what type of grant constitutes a 
"small-value grant" and consider, amongst other things, customary practice in such matters. 
 
Question 12  
 
 Chapter XIII of the Anti-dumping Regulations  and Chapter XIV of the Countervailing 
Duty Regulations  do not address the procedures th e Commission will follow in review 
proceedings.  How does the Dominican Republic implement the requirements of Article 11.4 of the Anti-dumping Agreement and Article 21.4 of the Subsidies Agreement concerning evidence 
and procedure in review proceedings? 
 
Response
 
  The Dominican Republic will directly apply the provisions of Article 11.4 of the Anti-dumping Agreement and Article 21.4 of th e Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing 
Measures. 
 
Question 13
 
 
 Will parties be required to register as an "i nterested party"?  If so, please explain if any 
specific time limits are associated with such registration and confirm that these requirements 
will be detailed in the notice announcing the initiation of the proceeding.  
Response
 
  Yes.  The initiating resolution will specify, amongst other time-limits, those for parties to 
register as interested parties. 
 
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