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1. These Regulations may
be cited as the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties Regulations
1996.
2. (1) A complaint
under section 18 of the Act shall contain the following information:
(a)
the name and address of the complainant;
(b) the industry on whose
behalf the complaint is filed and a letter from each producer
supporting the complaint, indicating his consent to being represented
by the complainant;
(c) a list of all known
producers in Trinidad and Tobago of the like product;
(d) where known, the volume
and value of production of each of the producers listed under
paragraph (c);
(e) a complete description
of the allegedly dumped or subsidized product;
(f) the names of the
country or countries of origin, and where different, of the countries
of export;
(g) a list of all known
producers in the country of origin;
(h) a list of all known
exporters in the country of origin, and where the goods are exported
from a country other than the country of origin, a list of all
exporters in the country of export;
(i) a list of all known
importers in Trinidad and Tobago of the product in question;
(j) evidence of dumping or
subsidization as the case may be during at least six months prior to
the making of the complaint;
(k) evidence of actionable
injury having regard to the factors enumerated in regulation 4 and
evidence that such actionable injury is the result of the allegedly
dumped or subsidized imports.
(2)
Documents on which the complainant replies to make the complaint shall
be furnished with the complaint.
(3)
Where the Authority receives a written complaint respecting the dumped
or subsidized goods, the Authority shall within fifteen days after the
receipt thereof –
(a) where the complaint
complies with section 18(2) of the Act, cause the complainant, and, in
the case of subsidized goods, the government of the country of export,
to be informed in writing that the complaint was received and that it
so complies; or
(b) where the complaint
does not comply with section 18(2) of the Act, cause the complainant
to be informed that the complaint was received and that additional
information or material is needed in order for the complaint to so
comply and may set any time-limit within which such additional
information shall be submitted.
(4) For the
purposes of subregulation (1), where the Authority receives from a
complainant additional written information or material, the complaint
is deemed to have been received on the day that the Authority received
the additional written information or material.
3. For the purposes of
section 18(5) of the Act, before initiating an investigation, whether
on its own initiative or as a result of a complaint, the Authority
shall hold a preliminary hearing of all interested persons and such
experts and other witnesses as it thinks fit and –
(a) shall cause notice of
the preliminary hearing to be given;
(b) may, subject to
regulation 5, require any of those persons to complete a
questionnaire.
4. (1) Where the
Authority decides to initiate an investigation, notice of the
initiation shall be given by the Authority in accordance with section
32 of the Act and may, subject to regulation 5, require any of the
persons referred to in that section to complete a questionnaire.
(2) Without
prejudice to section 32 of the Act, notice of the initiation of an
investigation shall contain the following information:
(a) the name of the
exporting country or countries and the product concerned;
(b) the date of the
initiation of the investigation;
(c) the basis on which
dumping or subsidization is alleged;
(d) a summary of the
factors on the basis of which actionable injury is alleged;
(e) the address to which
interested parties may submit their representations in writing or send
requests for a questionnaire and the time limits in which they may do
so.
(3)
The Authority shall provide a copy of the complaint with every copy of
the notice provided pursuant to subregulation (1).
(4)
Where the Authority decides not to initiate an investigation, it shall
send a written notice of that decision to the complainant setting out
therein the reasons therefor.
5. (1)
Where the Authority requests the completion of a questionnaire under
regulation 3 or 4, it shall allow thirty days or such longer period as
it thinks fit in which to provide the information requested.
(2)
The Authority shall verify all information provided to it by means of
a questionnaire.
6. (1) The
Authority may carry out an investigation in the territories of another
country, if the circumstances warrant, provided the Authority notifies
such country in advance and such country does not object to the
investigation.
(2) The
Authority may carry out an investigation at the premises of a
commercial organization situated in the territory of another country
or may examine its records if such organization agrees, and if the
country, in whose territory the commercial organization is situated,
is notified and raises no objection to the conduct of such
investigation or examination of records.
7. (1) Two or
more investigations may be joined and carried on as one investigation
where the investigations deal with the same or like goods.
(2) An
investigation may not be joined pursuant to subregulation (1) if a
preliminary determination under section 24 of the Act has been made in
respect of it.
(3) Where
investigations are joined pursuant to subregulation (1) the Authority
shall cause a notice of the joining to be given in writing to the
importers, exporters, governments of the countries of export and
complainants, if any, involved in the investigations.
8. The Authority may
require such experts and other persons as it thinks fit to tender any
evidence relevant to the investigations being carried out.
9. (1) Where –
(a) in an investigation
respecting the dumping or subsidizing of goods; or
(b) in relation to the sale
of –
(i)
goods to an importer in Trinidad and Tobago; or
(ii) goods
released ninety days prior to the initiation of an investigation,
the Authority believes on
reasonable grounds that any person in Trinidad and Tobago is able to
provide evidence relevant to the investigation or to the making, for
the purpose of facilitating the administration or enforcement of the
Act, of an estimate of the duty that may be payable on the goods when
imported into Trinidad and Tobago, the Authority may, by notice in
writing, require the person to provide the Authority, with the
evidence referred to in the notice.
(2) Where, by
notice given pursuant to subregulation (1) the Authority requires any
person to provide evidence, it shall –
(a) include in the notice
sufficient information for the person to identify the evidence;
(b) specify in the notice the time within
which and the manner and form in which the evidence is to be provided.
(3) Where a
person is required by notice given pursuant to subregulation (1) to
provide the Authority with evidence, the person shall –
(a) if it is reasonably
practicable for the person to do so, provide the evidence in
accordance with the notice;
(b) if it is reasonably
practicable for the person to provide a part only of the evidence in
accordance with the notice –
(i) so provide
that part of the evidence; and
(ii) provide the
Authority with a written statement identifying the remainder of the
evidence and specifying the reason why it is not reasonably
practicable for the person to provide the remainder of the evidence in
accordance with the notice; and
(c) if it is not reasonably
practicable for the person to provide the evidence in accordance with
the notice, provide the Authority with a statement so stating and
specifying the reason why it is not reasonably practicable to so
provide the evidence.
(4) Where,
pursuant to subregulation (2)(b), the Authority specifies the time
within which evidence is to be provided, the Authority may, either
before or after the expiration of that time, extend the time within
which the evidence is to be provided.
10. (1) Where a
complaint of actionable injury is made, the Authority shall examine
such facts as the Authority considers relevant under the
circumstances, and shall give due consideration to the following
factors:
(a) the volume of dumped or
subsidized imports as assessed in absolute terms or relative to
production or consumption in Trinidad and Tobago;
(b) the effect of dumped or
subsidized imports on prices shall be assessed by reference to –
(i) whether
there has been significant price undercutting by the dumped or
subsidized imports as compared with the price of like goods produced
in Trinidad and Tobago; or
(ii) whether
the effect of such imports is to depress to a significant degree or
prevent price increases, which would otherwise have occurred, to a
significant degree;
(c) the consequent impact
of dumped or subsidized imports on the industry which produces like
goods as assessed by reference to all relevant economic factors and
indices having a bearing on the state of the industry, notably sales,
profits, production, market share, productivity, return on investment,
rate of use of production capacity, inventories, cash flow,
employment, wages, growth, ability to raise capital and investments,
but nothing in this
subregulation shall be construed as binding the Authority to give
priority to any of the factors mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) in
the making of its decision.
(2) Where
imports of goods from more than one country are simultaneously subject
to investigation pursuant to the Act, the effect of imports from all
the countries taken cumulatively may be deemed to be an effect of
imports from each of the countries subject to investigation where the
following conditions are satisfied:
(a) the imports of any
exporter taken into account are dumped by a margin which is not less
than two per cent; and
(b) the volume of the
imports from any country taken into consideration is not negligible
within the meaning of section 23(5A) of the Act; and
(c) a cumulative assessment
of the imports is appropriate in the light of the conditions of the
competition between the imported products and the conditions of
competition between the imported product and the like goods produced
by the industry.
(3) The effect
of dumped or subsidized imports shall be assessed in relation to the
production of the like goods by industry when available data permit
the separate identification of that production on the basis of such
criteria such as the production process, producers' sales and profits,
and if such separate identification of that production is not
possible, the effects of the dumped or subsidized imports shall be
assessed by the examination of the production of the narrowest group
or range of goods which includes the like goods, for which the
necessary information can be provided.
(4) A
determination of threat of actionable injury may only be made where a
particular situation is likely to develop into actionable injury and
in making such determination the Authority shall take into
consideration such factors as:
(a) the rate of increase
of dumped or subsidized imports into Trinidad and Tobago;
(b) export capacity in
the country of export, already in existence or which will be
operational in the foreseeable future, and the likelihood that the
resulting exports will be to Trinidad and Tobago;
(c) the depressant or
suppressant effect of the prices of imports and the likelihood that
such prices will increase the demand for further imports;
(d) inventories of the
product being investigated;
(e) the nature of any
subsidy or subsidies and the trade effects likely to arise therefrom.
(5) Injuries
caused by other factors, such as volume and prices of imports which
are not dumped or subsidized, contraction in demand, or changes in the
patterns of consumption, trade restrictive practices of and
competition between the foreign producers and the industry,
developments in technology and the export performance and productivity
of the industry, which, individually or in combination, also adversely
affect the domestic industry shall not be attributed to the dumped or
subsidized imports.
(6) The
Authority may, in exceptional cases, give a finding as to the
existence of actionable injury even where a substantial portion of the
domestic industry is not so injured if –
(a) there is a
concentration of the dumped or subsidized imports into an isolated
market; and
(b) the dumped or
subsidized imports are causing actionable injury to the producers of
all the production within such market.
11. Where an interested
party or country refuses access to, or otherwise does not provide
necessary information to the Authority within the time-limit fixed by
the Authority or within a reasonable period if no time-limit is fixed
by the Authority, or impedes its investigations, the Authority may
record its findings on the basis of the information available to it
and put up such recommendations to the Minister as it thinks fit under
the circumstances.
12. (1) The Authority
shall within seventy-five days of the receipt of the complaint, or
such extended time as the Minister may, subject to section 24(1) of
the Act, in any case allow, submit preliminary findings to the
Minister to enable him to make a preliminary determination under
section 24 of the Act and take any provisional measures under section
25 of the Act.
(2) Without
prejudice to section 32 of the Act, the notice referred to in section
24(2) of the Act shall contain the following information:
(a) the name of the
suppliers, or where this is impracticable, the name of the supplying
country concerned;
(b) a description of the
product which identifies it adequately for customs purposes;
(c) the margins of
dumping or subsidization established and an explanation of the reasons
for the methodology used;
(d) considerations relevant
to the injury determination; and
(e) the main reasons
leading to the determination.
13. The Authority shall
submit to the Minister a detailed report containing –
(a) its final finding as to
–
(i) the export
price, normal value and the margin of dumping of the said goods;
(ii) whether
subsidy is being granted in respect of the goods under investigation
and the quantum of such subsidy;
(iii) whether
import of such articles into Trinidad and Tobago causes or threatens
to cause material injury to any industry established in Trinidad and
Tobago or materially retards the establishment of any industry in
Trinidad and Tobago;
(b) the basis of its
findings; and
(c) its recommendations for
the action to be taken,
within one hundred and twenty
days from the date of preliminary determination or within such
extended time as the Minister may , subject to section 26(1) of the
Act, grant in exceptional cases.
Dated this 30th
day of January 1996.
M. ASSAM
Minister of Trade and Industry
Laid in the House of Representatives
this 16th day of February 1996.
J. SAMPSON
Clerk of the House
Laid in the Senate this 6th
day of February 1996.
N. COX
Clerk of the Senate
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