Provisional Rules For Filing Countervailing Investigations

general provisions

Article 1 in order to standardize the application and filing procedure of countervailing investigations, the rules are formulated in accordance with the provisions of the People's Republic of China countervailing regulations.

The second Ministry of foreign trade and Economic Cooperation (hereinafter referred to as MOFTEC) designated the Fair Trade Bureau for import and export to be responsible for the implementation of these rules.

The third MOFTEC may decide to file a case on the basis of the application of the applicant, conduct a countervailing investigation, or decide to file a case on its own and conduct countervailing investigations.

The second chapter is the qualification of applicants.

The fourth domestic industry or natural person, legal person or related organization representing the domestic industry (hereinafter referred to as the applicant) may apply for countervailing investigation application to the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation.

The fifth domestic industry refers to all the producers of similar products in People's Republic of China, or the producers whose total output accounts for more than 50% of the total output of similar products in China.

The output of the sixth applicant accounts for less than 50% of the total output of the same kind of products in China. But if the domestic producers who support the application and the opposition apply for more than 50% of the total output of the proponents and opponents, and support that the domestic producers of the applications are not less than 25% of the total output of similar products, the application should be regarded as representing the domestic industry.

When determining the output of supporters of the first paragraph of this article, the applicant's output shall be counted.

Seventh, when the domestic industry is very dispersed and involves a large number of producers, MOFTEC can adopt a statistically effective sampling method to examine the qualifications of the applicants.

The eighth domestic producer is related to the exporter or importer, or the importer himself or the importer of similar products shall be excluded from the domestic industry.

Ninth producers in a domestic regional market sell all or almost all of their products in the market, and the demand for similar products in the market is not supplied by producers elsewhere in the country, and can be regarded as a separate industry.

The third chapter applies

Tenth applications for countervailing investigations shall be put forward in writing. The application shall state the formal request of the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation for the purpose of filing a countervailing investigation, and shall be stamped or signed by the applicant or its lawful authorized person.

Eleventh applications for countervailing investigations shall include the following contents and relevant evidence:

(1) a description of the applicant and known domestic producers;

(two) a complete description of the imported products and similar products in China; and a comparison between the two.

(three) known exporters or producers and importers of foreign countries, and exporters (regions);

(four) description of domestic industry;

(five) a description of the subsidy;

(six) the description of the damage to domestic industries;

(seven) demonstration of the causal relationship between subsidies and damages;

(eight) other matters which the applicant deems necessary.

Twelfth the description of the applicant should include the applicant's name, address, telephone, fax, zip code, legal representative and his contact.

Where an applicant entrusts an agent, he shall specify the name and identity of the agent and provide a power of attorney.

It is known that the description of domestic producers should include the name, address, zip code and other contact methods of known domestic producers.

Thirteenth the description of the products applied for investigation should include the product's name, type, specification, usage, market situation and the import tariff code of People's Republic of China for the product.

The description of domestic similar products should include the name, type, specification, use and market situation of the product.

The comparison of the two should include the comparison of physical characteristics, chemical properties, production processes, substitution and use.

The description of fourteenth known exporters or foreign producers should include the country, name, address and other contact information of the exporter or producer.

The description of known importers should include the importer's name, address, zip code and other contact information.

The fifteenth domestic industry situation should include the application for the first three years of domestic similar products annual output, application for the first three years of the applicant's annual output and its proportion in the total domestic output.

Sixteenth cases of subsidies should include the existence, nature, amount of subsidy and the estimated amount of subsidy per unit product.

The applicant should provide legal documents for subsidies granted to exporters (regions), and set out the process of calculating the amount of subsidies granted to the estimated units.

The seventeenth domestic industry injury cases mainly include the types of domestic industrial injury (substantial damage, real threat or real hindrance to domestic industry establishment), quantity changes and price changes of imported products applied to investigate, the price impact on domestic similar products, and the impact on domestic industry related economic factors and indicators.

Article eighteenth where an application is made on the ground of substantial injury, the applicant shall provide the following evidence:

(1) the amount of absolute imports or the growth in quantity or consumption of similar products in the first three years of the application for investigation of import products;

(two) the average price and the average price change charts for the three years before the application for investigation of import products were made in China;

(three) the impact of the application for the import of imported products on the price of domestic similar products in the first three years, including the reduction of domestic similar products, the reduction and suppression of the prices of domestic similar products, and the change in the prices of domestic products, etc.;

(four) to investigate the impact of imported products on the domestic industry, including the impact on the domestic industry's output, sales, market share, profit, productivity, investment returns, equipment utilization, related factors affecting domestic prices, cash flow, employment, wage growth, capital raising or investment capacity, inventory and other factors. If an individual factor is not applicable, the applicant shall give an explanation.

Article nineteenth where an application is made on the basis of a threat of injury, the applicant shall provide the following evidence of damage to the evidence:

(a) evidence of the possibility of increasing the rate of increase or growth of imported products into the domestic market, including the current and potential export capacity and inventory of the exporting country (region).

(two) the trend of indicators or factor indicators specified in item fourth of the eighteenth rules can be clearly foreseen and imminent.

The twentieth article applies for the purpose of causing a substantial obstacle to the establishment of the domestic industry. In addition to providing evidence of nineteenth provisions, the applicant should also provide evidence for the establishment of the domestic industry and its actual implementation.

The twenty-first evidence of damage to domestic industry should be determined separately for the production of similar products in China. It can not be independently determined for domestic production of similar products in China. It should be determined by the production of the narrowest product group or range, including the domestic similar products.

Twenty-second, the argument for the causal relationship between subsidies and damages, the applicant should analyze the relationship between the import and damage of the subsidized products, and explain the effects of the quantity and price of the non subsidized imports, the shrinking demand, the changes in consumption patterns, the restrictive trade practices between foreign and domestic producers, the competition among them, the technological development, and the export performance and productivity of the domestic industry and other factors on the damage to the domestic industry. If the above factors are not applicable, the applicant shall give an explanation.

Article twenty-third when providing evidence materials provided in this chapter, the applicant shall explain the source of evidence.

In the twenty-fourth application involving confidential materials, the applicant shall submit a confidential application and submit a non confidential summary that enables other interested parties in the case to have a reasonable understanding of confidential materials. Failure to provide a non confidential outline should be explained.

The twenty-fifth evidence material is foreign language, the applicant should provide the full text of the foreign language of the evidence material and provide the relevant parts of the Chinese translation.

The application form for filing twenty-sixth countervailing investigations submitted by the applicant shall be in the form of Chinese printed form.

Twenty-seventh applications for countervailing investigations shall be classified into confidential texts (if the applicant applies for confidential application) and open texts. The confidential texts should be submitted to 1 originals and 6 copies. In addition to the original 1 copies and 6 copies, the public texts should also be provided with copies of the number of exporting countries (regions) of the imported products according to known applications. If the number of exporting countries (regions) involved in the known applications for investigation is too large, they can be reduced but not less than 5 copies.

The twenty-eighth applicant shall provide the electronic data carrier of the application and evidence according to the computer procedure required by the Fair Trade Bureau of the import and export.

The twenty-ninth applicant may submit the application and the evidence to be submitted to the Fair Trade Bureau by mail, direct service or other means stipulated by the Fair Trade Bureau.

Article thirtieth the applicant shall formally submit the application and evidence materials, and the Fair Trade Bureau of import and export shall sign it. The date of signing is the date of receipt of the application and evidence materials by MOFTEC.

The fourth chapter is filing.

The thirty-first import and Export Fair Trade Bureau shall, within 60 days from the date of receipt of the application submitted by the applicant and the evidence attached, examine the application and decide to file an investigation or not to initiate a case investigation. The situation is particularly complicated, and the review period can be appropriately extended.

The thirty-second import and Export Fair Trade Bureau shall, within 7 days from the date of receipt of the application submitted by the applicant and the evidence attached, transmit the application to the State Economic and Trade Commission for each set of the public and confidential texts of the application. The State Economic and Trade Commission shall, at least 20 days, conduct research and make comments on the application and attached evidence.

After examining the thirty-third import and Export Fair Trade bureaus, the applicant may ask the applicant to adjust or supplement the application of his countervailing investigation. If the applicant fails to adjust or supplement the materials as scheduled, he may reject the application.

Thirty-fourth the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation dismissed the applicant's application for countervailing filing, and he should notify the applicant and explain the reasons to him.

Thirty-fifth, after preliminary examination, it is considered that the application basically meets the requirements. Before deciding to file a case investigation, the MOFTEC shall invite the government of the exporting country (region) to consult before deciding to file a case, so as to clarify the matters involved in the application and seek satisfactory solutions for both parties.

The procedures adopted by the governments of the exporting countries (regions) refuse to consult and do not affect countervailing measures further.

The thirty-sixth agreement reached between the MOFTEC and the exporting country (region) has reached agreement. The MOFTEC can terminate the countervailing investigation and file the case, notify the applicant and explain the reason.

If the thirty-seventh governments of the exporting countries (regions) accept the invitation, the MOFTEC may appropriately extend the time limit for countervailing filing cases and conduct consultations. Consultations should be concluded within 60 days.

Failure to negotiate or failure to reach an agreement within 60 days will not affect the further progress of countervailing measures.

The thirty-eighth decision not to initiate a case investigation shall not be announced by the MOFTEC, but the applicant shall be notified and the reasons shall be explained.

Article thirty-ninth the MOFTEC decides not to publish an investigation application without deciding to initiate a case investigation.

Article fortieth where a case has been examined and decided to initiate a case investigation, the MOFTEC shall make a public announcement and notify the applicant, known exporters, importers, and other interested organizations and individuals and the governments of the exporting countries (regions).

The forty-first announcement shall include the following contents:

(1) the outline of the application and the examination result of the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation;

(two) initiate a survey based on a brief description of the material;

(three) the date of initiating an investigation;

(four) to investigate the exporters (regions) of products;

(five) products investigated;

(six) investigation period;

(seven) the intention of the investigation agencies to conduct on-site verification;

(eight) the consequences of the non prosecution of the interested parties;

(nine) the time limit for interested parties to make comments;

(ten) the address and contact information of the investigation organ.

Forty-second when the decision of placing a case is announced, the MOFTEC shall provide the public part of the application to the known exporters and the governments of the exporting countries (regions).

The date of filing the forty-third countervailing investigation is the date of announcement of the investigation.

Article forty-fourth under special circumstances, MOFTEC has not received written applications for countervailing investigations. However, if there is sufficient evidence that there are subsidies and damages, and there is a causal relationship between the two, the business and State Economic and Trade Commission may decide to file an investigation on its own initiative.

The evidence of the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation shall conform to the evidence requirements stipulated in the third chapter of these rules.

The forty-fifth procedure for deciding on a case by case is in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Fifth chapter supplementary provisions

The forty-sixth rule is explained by MOFTEC.

The forty-seventh rule has been implemented since March 13, 2002.