The National Tariff Commission (NTC) has given an opportunity to importers/exporters and domestic manufacturers to present their viewpoint for final determination of the anti-dumping duty on the import of tiles from China.
According to an NTC announcement on Thursday, the commission had initiated an investigation on March 27, 2006 on dumping of tiles, which includes ceramic, porcelain/vitrified/granite wall and floor tiles in glazed, unglazed, polished/unpolished finish forms classified under Pakistan Customs Tariff Code 6907.1000, 6907.9000, 6908.1000 and 6908.9000 (PCT heading in Pakistan is equivalent to Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System under Brussels nomenclature up to six digit level), into Pakistan by the Chinese exporters.
This investigation has been initiated in response to an application filed with the Commission by the Master Tiles and Ceramic Industries Limited on behalf of domestic tile manufacturers under the Pakistan Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2000.
The subject tiles are used in residential constructions, industrial, commercial and public buildings, the NTC said. The Commission is empowered under the Ordinance to carry out anti-dumping investigation, and, if an affirmative preliminary or final determination of dumping and injury is made, to impose appropriate anti-dumping duty.
In the application filed by Pakistan's domestic industry identified 219 exporters from China involved in dumping of tiles. The Commission directly sent questionnaires to all the exporters whose addresses were either known to the Commission or who identified themselves as exporters or producers in response to the notice of initiation of investigation. Nine exporters and 10 producers responded to the questionnaire.
The Commission after due process made a preliminary determination and found that dumped imports from China existed, which has caused injury to the domestic industry. In order to offset injurious dumping, the Commission has levied a provisional anti-dumping duty in cases of such exporters ranging from 3.79 percent to 21.02 percent of the CIF value.
After this preliminary determination, the Commission offers an opportunity to interested parties (which ordinarily include exporters, importers and the domestic industry) to present their views in a hearing, should any of the interested parties seek to do so.
Interested parties can also submit briefs containing their views on a particular issue or issues to the Commission within 30 days before the date of final determination.
The NTC stated that the Ordinance lays down that the Commission shall make the final determination within 180 days from the date of publication of notice of preliminary determination, if the final determination is affirmative (domestic price of like product in the exporting country is higher than its export price and injury to the domestic industry is also found to exist and a causal link between dumping and injury is affirmed), then the Ordinance stipulates that the Commission may impose final anti-dumping duty on the dumped imports equivalent to the dumping margin, for a period of up to five years.
The law also requires that a notice of preliminary as well as final determination be published in the official gazette and in one leading Urdu and one leading English newspaper. Such notice contains, besides the name of exporter and description of investigated product, the amount of dumping margin found to exist and the basis for such determination and the factors that have led to determination of injury. These are the requirements of Antidumping Duties Ordinance 2000 as well as WTO's Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994, to which Pakistan is a signatory.
The NTC added that the Ordinance provides for an appeal process, ie, if any of the interested party is not satisfied with the Commission's final determination and decision of imposition of definitive antidumping duty, it may approach the Appellate Tribunal. The Ordinance further provides that this tribunal is to be headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge. Alternatively, or simultaneously any affected exporting government may, in case of positive final determination, approach the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in Geneva and may lodge a complaint against the importing country's decisions. The DSB may then set up a panel to adjudicate.
This is the 21 investigation conducted under the Pakistan's Antidumping Duties Ordinance, 2000, where the Commission has imposed provisional antidumping duty. The previous cases involved exporters of various products from South Africa, Indonesia, France, Taiwan, South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Thailand and China. Thus far there has been no appeal against any of the Commission's determinations.