united states - certain measures regarding anti-dumping methodology

Request for Consultations by Brazil

            The following communication, dated 18 September 2001, from the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the Permanent Mission of the United States and to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated in accordance with Article 4.4 of the DSU.

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            Upon instruction from my authorities, I hereby wish to convey the request of the Government of Brazil for consultations with the United States pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Article XXIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and Article 17 of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement), including Article 17.4 thereof.

            Article 5.8 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement determines that the margin of dumping shall be considered to be de minimis if this margin is less than 2 per cent, expressed as a percentage of the export price. Article 18.3 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement determines that its provisions "shall apply to investigations, and reviews of existing measures, initiated pursuant to applications which have been made on or after the date of entry into force for a Member of the WTO".  Furthermore, the de minimis threshold established in Article 5.8 of the Agreement is also applicable to the context of Article 11, which governs the rules pertaining to the duration of the duty.  Pursuant to Article 11.1, an anti-dumping duty can remain in force "only as long as and to the extent necessary to counteract dumping which is causing injury".  Since Article 11 does not contain a separate definition of "dumping which is causing injury", the definitions established elsewhere in the Agreement are applicable in this context.