2004年-世界发展银行全球_Trade_Policy_and_WTO_Accession_for_Economic_Development___Application_to_Russia_and_the_CIS_Module_11_Antidumping_and_Other_Measures_of_Contingent_Protection_20页_131kb

Summary of Trade Policy and WTO Accession for Economic Development: Application to Russia and the CIS

Core Content

This document provides an analysis of contingent protection measures and their regulation under the WTO, focusing on their implications for Russia and the CIS. It explores the economic effects of anti-dumping duties, subsidies and countervailing duties (CVDs), and safeguard measures, and evaluates how the WTO agreements govern these instruments.

Main Questions and Lessons

Main Questions:

• What is contingent protection?
• What is anti-dumping?
• What are subsidies and countervailing measures?
• What are safeguard measures?
• What are their effects on welfare? How are they regulated by the WTO?

Main Lessons:

1. Contingent protection measures are increasingly used to legitimize selective and unilateral protection, rather than for their original corrective purposes.
2. Anti-dumping actions affect developed, developing, and transition countries. Large developing and transition economies are often the targets of these actions.
3. Negative welfare effects of dumping are unlikely and difficult to prove, and anti-dumping actions often serve as hidden, discriminatory, and unjustified protection.
4. The GATT's definition and regulation of dumping are vague and loose, leading to unilateral actions and weak defense cases for challenged countries.
5. Countervailing duties are not effective in discouraging export subsidies and are often used as a means to protect specific interest groups.
6. Safeguard measures are non-discriminatory and less likely to be used for hidden protectionist agendas compared to other contingent protection measures.

Contingent Protection: General Principles

Definition

Contingent protection refers to trade restrictions that can be introduced under specific circumstances to protect domestic industries from unfair competition, beyond the tariff schedules negotiated under GATT. These measures are exceptions to the WTO principles of reciprocity and non-discrimination.

Types of Contingent Protection Measures

Contingent protection measures are divided into two categories:

• Anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties are discriminatory as they target specific trading partners.
• Safeguard measures are non-discriminatory as they apply to all trade partners.

Anti-Dumping

Definition

Anti-dumping duties are tariffs imposed on imported goods that are sold at unfairly low prices in the importing country, below the normal value in the exporting country.

Economic Effects

• Consumers benefit from lower prices.
• Domestic producers may suffer from loss of market share.
• The welfare impact is ambiguous due to the complexity of proving dumping and material injury.

WTO Regulation

• Governed by GATT 1994 Article VI and the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
• Requires detailed investigations to determine:
  • The dumping margin (difference between normal value and export price)
  • Whether dumping causes material injury to the domestic industry
• Sunset reviews are conducted every five years to assess the continuation of anti-dumping duties.
• The regulation is vague and loose, allowing unilateral actions and weak defense cases for challenged countries.

Issues

• Proving dumping is difficult and often based on negligible evidence.
• Anti-dumping is often used to justify protectionist policies.
• Non-market economies (like transition countries) are more vulnerable due to unclear normal value calculations.

Subsidies and Countervailing Measures

Definition

• Subsidies are government payments to private sector to encourage or reward certain activities.
• Countervailing duties (CVDs) are tariffs applied to offset the effects of export subsidies.

Economic Effects

• Export subsidies increase domestic producers' profits and lower prices in the importing country.
• CVDs are not effective in discouraging subsidies and are often used to protect specific sectors.
• Both subsidies and CVDs can reduce world production and consumption efficiency.

WTO Regulation

• Regulated by the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, Agreement on Agriculture, and Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.
• CVDs are meant to level the playing field, but often fail to do so effectively.

Issues

• CVDs are long-lived and often target sunk costs of subsidies.
• The material injury standard in CVDs ignores total national interests.
• Strategic trade policy may justify CVDs, but they are mostly applied in declining industries.

Safeguard Measures

Definition

Safeguard measures are temporary trade restrictions (tariffs or quotas) used to protect domestic industries from sudden import surges that cause harm.

Economic Effects

• Safeguards are less discriminatory and less likely to be used for hidden protectionist agendas.
• They are costly for the applying country, which reduces the incentive to use them for unilateral protection.

WTO Regulation

• Governed by the Agreement on Safeguards.
• These measures are temporary and subject to review.

Conclusion

The document highlights the increasing use of contingent protection measures in the WTO context, often justifying protectionist policies under the guise of corrective actions. It emphasizes the ambiguity and loopholes in WTO regulations, which allow unilateral actions and undermine trade liberalization. For Russia and the CIS, these measures may serve as tools for protecting domestic industries, but they are often misused and lack economic justification.