Study calls for amending anti-dumping law

An academic study conducted by the UAE researcher Suleiman Salim Saleh Al-Ka’abi has called for amending the unified law of anti-dumping for the GCC countries to allow taking anti-dumping measures on the movement of goods and products between the GCC countries.

The study was based on the fact that the current provisions of the law does not consider that there is dumping has occurred when the goods moved from a Gulf state to the other Gulf state.

The study said “this is inconsistent with the accession of UAE to the World Trade Organization in 1997 and signed the agreement on anti-dumping, which was adopted in the Uruguay Round.”

The UAE researcher UAE Suleiman Al-Ka’abi, who received a master's degree with honors from the Academy of Dubai Police for his thesis "dumping a comparative study of the scope of application of Article VI of the GATT 1994 with the application on the UAE", he stressed “it would reduce complaints from many of the interrelationship between the GCC countries submitted to the Secretariat general about the occurrence of dumping.”

According to the study “the current situation prevents the GCC countries which are suffering from the case of dumping its market by products from other Gulf States to take any measures to combat that, to the detriment of their industries, especially in light of the absence of laws to protect competition in most countries of the GCC.”

The study stressed that the continuation of this situation, although contributing to the support of intra-GCC trade is consistent with the adoption of a unified customs system, but impacted negatively on the Gulf industries, including those in the UAE.

Meanwhile the researcher recommended the establishment of an independent body in the UAE for combating harmful practices in international trade (dumping, subsidies, the increase in imports) bearing in mind that this new body should include specialists in the fields of international trade, law, economics, industry, statistics, accounting, held consumer protection.

The researcher emphasised the necessity setting up the new body and of not only efficient by the mere administration of anti-dumping in the Ministry of Economy, as is the case now.

He also called for the establishment of a fund for supporting and funding anti-dumping cases and support the increase in imports against the country's exports, to entrust to the body mentioned previously, managing it and supervising on it.

The study recommended the need for the merger of similar industries to create powerful economic entities through the mass import of inputs, which reduces production costs and raise the rate of competitiveness against foreign products.

It also called for government departments and the private sector to support of local products to minimise the negative effects of dumping and to reduce them.

The study fixed three settlements on the dumping complaints against the UAE, which Ministry of Economy succeeded to reach solutions with the complainers.

The first settlement with the Kingdom of Morocco, which imposed duties on exports of the UAE from ceramics, and the ministry of economy of UAE, has succeeded in raising these fees.

The UAE Ministry of Economy succeeded in lifting the anti-dumping duties imposed by Indonesia on flour exported by companies from the UAE. It also succeeded in persuading the Indian government to reconsider the fees imposed on ceramic products and white cement exported to India from the UAE.

Dumping occurs in three situations: First State exports products at an export price less than its true value or cost less than the value in the country of origin.

The second case occurs that the State produced to provide financial support both direct and indirect to a particular industry or exemption from taxes.

The third case of dumping occurs due to unjustified or unreasonable increase in the imports of a product of a State to another State.

THE WTO agreements include such practices within the illegal and harmful practice to international trade, which are intended to sweep the market and undermine the foundations of national industries, which prompting the World Trade Organization to impose protectionist measures of anti-dumping.

Sanctions against countries causing the dumping on the affected countries include allowing to the imposition of customs or quantitative restrictions on imports.

Statistics of the General Secretariat of the GCC countries revealed more than 3,000 cases of dumping in the world, and rising anti-subsidy cases to more than 200, besides issues related to unjustified increase in imports to about 200 cases.

While the decline in the dumping cases filed by the GCC countries, the European Union has established 31 cases against the GCC countries, the share of the UAE, of which nine cases were concentrated in the industries of petrochemical, ceramic and polyester products.

The UAE had recently submitted a formal complaint to the WTO against the European Union imposing duties on polyethylene exports from the UAE.

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