Subsidies and Countervailing Measures
The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“SCM Agreement”) addresses two separate but closely related topics: multilateral disciplines regulating the provision of subsidies, and the use of countervailing measures to remove the injury caused by subsidized imports.
Multilateral disciplines are the rules regarding whether or not a subsidy may be provided by a Member. These are enforced through invoking the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. More precisely, certain subsidies are prohibited, and some other specific subsidies may be challenged if these cause adverse effects to the interests of other Members. Unlike the earlier Tokyo Round SCM Agreement, which is replaced by the WTO SCM Agreement contains a definition of the term “subsidy”. The definition contains three basic elements:
- a financial contribution
- by a government or any public body within the territory of a Member
- which confers a benefit to the recipient. All three of these elements must be satisfied in order for a subsidy to exist.
Countervailing measures are a form of unilateral remedy, but it may only be applied by a Member after an investigation by that Member and a determination that the criterion set forth in the SCM Agreement are satisfied. The substantive criteria requires a Member not to impose a countervailing measure unless it determines that there are subsidized imports, injury to a domestic industry, and a causal link between the subsidized imports and the injury. In-depth procedural requirements regulate the conduct of countervailing investigations and the imposition and maintenance of countervailing measures. A failure to respect either the substantive or procedural requirements can be taken to dispute settlement and may be made the basis for invalidation of the measure.
OUR SERVICES
In the area of subsidies and countervailing measures, the range of our services includes:
- Assisting in identifying the subsidy schemes prevailent in the exporting countries from which subsidized imports are coming.
- Assisting in collection of evidences of the identified subsidy schemes.
- Preparing injury claims by analyzing the operational results and financial position of the domestic industry for the product concerned.
- Assisting the applicant companies in developing causal link between the injury and the subsidized product.
- Analyzing relevant import statistics vs domestic sales of the product concerned by the domestic industry.
- Assisting the applicant companies at the time of on-the-spot verification.
- Attending hearings on behalf of the domestic industry.
- Making liaison with the concerned government authorities and industrial associations where necessary.
- Negotiating for price undertakings, where necessary.
- Responding to various queries of the Investigating Authority on behalf of the domestic industry throughout the investigation.
- Preparing, filing and pursuing Appeal before the Antidumping Appellate Tribunal if so required.
- Defending Appeal filed by other interested parties against the decision of the Investigating Authority.
- Providing technical assistance to fill in importers questionnaire.
- Giving oral and written submissions on the application filed by the domestic industry.
- Making liaison with the Investigating Authority.
- Representing importers in hearings before the Investigating Authority.
- Commenting on preliminary determination and statement of essential facts on behalf of the importers.
- Preparing, filing and pursuing Appeal before the Antidumping Appellate Tribunal, if so required.
- providing technical assistance to fill in foreign producers / exporters questionnaire.
- giving oral and written submissions on the application filed by the domestic industry.
- Making liaison with the Investigating Authority.
- Representing foreign producers/exporters in hearings before the Investigating Authority.
- Commenting on preliminary determination and statement of essential facts on behalf of the importer.
- Preparing, filing and pursuing Appeal before the Appellate Tribunal, if so required.
- Analyzing the subsidy schemes prevalent in Pakistan and determining the extent of benefit derived therefrom by the exporters / producers, if any.
- Reviewing the cost to make & sell data along with the other relevant / supporting documents for making it part of the subsidy questionnaire.
- Assisting the clients in preparation and filing of questionnaire of the foreign Investigating Authority.
- Assisting the clients at the time of on-the-spot verification.
- Giving written submissions throughout the investigation, as and when required, to the Investigating Authority of the importing country, including comments on the application filed by the domestic industry in the importing country.
- Representing clients in hearings and disclosure meetings before the Investigating Authority in the importing country.
- Making liaison with the Investigating Authority in the importing country, directly, or through our associate partner in the importing country.
- Commenting on preliminary determination, statement of essential facts (final disclosure documents etc.) and on disclosure meetings on behalf of the Pakistani exporters.
We have the honor of having prepared and filed the first anti-subsidy case with the NTC on behalf of our client M/s. Packages Limited, Lahore against the subsidized imports of Certain Writing/Printing Paper from Indonesia and Thailand.
We have also the honor of having imposition of provisional countervailing measures on subsidized imports of Cotton Yarn into the Commerce of Pakistan from India. This is the FIRST EVER countervailing investigation in Pakistan wherein provisional duties have been imposed. We prepared and filed this anti-subsidy application with the NTC on behalf of our client M/s. All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA).
