UNITED STATES –ANTI-DUMPING ACT OF 1916
Request
for Consultations from the European Communities
The
following communication, dated 4 June 1998, from the Permanent Delegation of
the European Commission to the Permanent Mission of the United States and the
Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated in accordance with Article 4.4 of the
DSU.
_______________
On
behalf of the European Communities, I hereby request consultations with the
United States of America pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules
and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes, Article XXIII of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) and Article 17.3 of the
Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement) regarding failure from the part of the
United States to repeal its Anti-Dumping Act of 1916 (Act of 8 September 1916,
39 Stat. 756. Title VIII of that Act is
codified at United States Code 71-74).
The
US Anti-Dumping Act of 1916 is still in force and is applicable to the import
and internal sale of any foreign product irrespective of its origin, including
products originating in countries which are WTO Members. The 1916 Act exists in the US statute books
in parallel with the Tariff Act of 1930 which includes the US implementing
legislation of multilateral Anti-Dumping provisions. A Court action brought under the 1916 Act is
at present pending before US Courts and there are substantiated indications
that further Court actions under the 1916 Act could be brought in the near
future. It should be noted that US
producers of any product could decide to resort to the 1916 Act.
The
1916 Act renders unlawful the importation of goods and their sale in the US
market in certain circumstances when the price is lower than the one in the
country of production or in other foreign countries where the goods are
exported. It therefore relates to a
practice which corresponds to that described in Article VI of GATT 1994 and in
the Anti-Dumping Agreement.