Injury Determinations in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Investigations

Abstract

Article 3 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (“ADA”) and Article 15 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (“ASCM”) address the injury determination that an importing country must make before imposing antidumping or countervailing duty measures, while Articles 4.1(ii) of theADAand 16.2 of the ASCM deal with the special situation of injury to regional industries. The language in the two Agreements is virtually identical. It is therefore convenient to consider injury issues under both Agreements in the same chapter, since Panel and Appellate Body decisions interpreting the provisions in one Agreement obviously have direct relevance to the other. In addition, much of the language is similar or identical to the injury provisions in the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.1 Moreover, some of the language in Article 3 of the ADA and Article 15 of the ASCM reflect, with changes, the language concerning injury found in the 1979 Antidumping and Subsidies Codes. Panel and Appellate Body decisions interpreting the injury requirements in the Safeguards Agreement and the 1979 Codes can therefore provide some guidance in interpreting the ADA and ASCM injury provisions.2