The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on November 17 announced the panel’sfinal decision on Vietnam ’s lawsuit against the US imposition ofanti-dumping tax on its certain warm-water frozen shrimp, known as caseDS/429.

The panel considered 11 contents in Vietnam ’sclaims and issued rulings on seven of them which are consideredconducive to the Vietnamese side, especially in administrativeproceedings and dumping margins.

Under the US Department ofCommerce (DOC)’s decision reached during its 8 th period of review fromFebruary 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013, the nation-wide level of tariffon imported frozen Vietnamese shrimp still stood at 25.76 percent, thesame level as the past seven review periods.

A year ago, DOCdeclared that Vietnamese exporters did not involve in dumping practiceand imposed zero percent on their products.

During the year,the Vietnamese permanent mission to the United Nations, the WTO andinternational organisations in Geneva also asked for theestablishment of a panel on case DS/429 which was approved by the WTO’sDispute Settlement Body (DSB).

Later, it requested a review ofthe implementation of the DSB’s ruling on the similar case DS/404 andmade claims with respect to the DOC's use of the “simple zeroing”methodology, the assignment of a rate to the non-market economy-wideentity, and the sampling of Vietnamese shrimp imports.

In theDS/404 case, the panel voiced support for two out of three issues raisedby Vietnam and demanded the US government align its regulationswith the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement and the 1994 General Agreement onTariffs and Trade, saying that the zeroing methodology is inappropriateto the WTO regulations and should be banned.

Since the DS/404case was launched, the Vietnamese mission has asked the US side to abideby the panel’s ruling and revise laws on the calculation ofanti-dumping margins.-VNA