China'S First Win In World Trade Disputes

In October 25th,

Results China and the United States win disputes over poultry meat

The dispute between China and the United States finally settled.

In October 25th, the WTO dispute settlement body (DSB) formally passed the report of the expert group on "China v. USA poultry restriction measures", and ruled that the provisions of the 2009 comprehensive appropriation act on restricting the import of poultry meat in China did not comply with WTO rules.

The director of the Ministry of Commerce's law enforcement division, 25, said that for a long time, the restrictions imposed by the US on Chinese poultry meat seriously hampered the export of Chinese poultry to the United States, and undermined the rights and interests that Chinese enterprises should enjoy under the multilateral trading system.

The WTO report clearly shows that the restrictions imposed by the United States on Chinese poultry are lacking in reasonable basis.

"Almost all the claims made by the Chinese side have been fully supported by the panel of experts, which is a great victory."

Legal attention to the case pointed out that the report ruled that the US import restrictions on Chinese poultry not only violated the relevant rules of WTO on animal and plant quarantine measures, but also violated WTO's most important most favored nation treatment principle and the provisions on the elimination of quantitative restrictions.

It is understood that since 2007, the United States has passed the annual appropriation act and a series of related measures, so that Chinese poultry products can not export to the United States.

In March 10, 2009, the United States Senate passed the comprehensive appropriation Act 2009. On the second day, President Obama signed the bill.

The 727th provision of the agricultural part of the bill provides that "any appropriation provided under this Law shall not be used to formulate or enforce any rules that allow the United States to import Chinese poultry products."

Insiders pointed out that this provision means that the USDA should not make use of the financial appropriation to carry out inspection and Quarantine of poultry products in China, or even ban the purchase of tickets for inspection in China.

Thus, in fact, the US government has banned the US government from engaging in any effort to resume the import of Chinese poultry meat. The US Congress has fundamentally blocked the possibility of Chinese poultry meat entering the US market in the form of legislation and pushed the trade protectionism to the extreme.

The practice of the United States immediately aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Chinese government and the industry. In response to China's request, the WTO formally decided in July 31, 2009 to set up an expert group to investigate and decide whether the relevant measures adopted by the United States to restrict the import of poultry meat from China are in violation of WTO rules.

After a year long trial, in September 29, 2010, the WTO expert group issued a report on "China v. American poultry import restriction measures", ruled that the US ban on Chinese poultry products entering the US market violated the relevant obligations of the United States to WTO.

The WTO's 184 page ruling argues that the US ban on the use of funds for Chinese poultry imports in the agricultural appropriation act has unfairly closed the US market.

According to Reuters 25 reported that WTO ruled that the United States banned the import of Chinese poultry practices violations, the United States on Monday decided not to appeal against this ruling.

"An anonymous source said that at a meeting of the WTO dispute settlement body, the United States had no objection to the verdict issued by WTO in September 29th."

Reuters said.

Insiders close to the case say that congressional legislation is a common challenge in WTO, but few are successful and often win the Joint Appeals of several countries.

China's first independent WTO challenge US Congress legislation, it is very rare to win such a victory.

The biggest significance of this case is that the WTO dispute settlement mechanism has exerted great pressure on the United States at the legislative level, forcing the United States to finally modify its domestic legislation.

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The real Chinese poultry products are still difficult to pport to the US.

It is understood that in the new comprehensive appropriation act of 2010, the United States has amended the contents of the 727 clause, saying that if China can meet the US inspection and quarantine conditions, it can provide funding.

Insiders close to the case pointed out that although the United States has amended the law, it is still very difficult for Chinese poultry to export to the United States.

Not only because of the stringent inspection and quarantine standards of the United States, but also the fact that the US has not yet entered the inspection and quarantine procedures, which has set up an invisible threshold for Chinese enterprises.

In an interview with the economic reference daily, the representatives of the involved enterprises also said that although China had won the WTO case against US imports of Chinese poultry, it still could not carry out its export business to the United States.

The head of Beijing Dafa Zhengda limited told the economic information daily that in 2004, the United States had allowed China to export cooked poultry products to the United States, and the company also started the business. At that time, the relevant department of the United States Department of agriculture and other relevant departments sent people to the field to inspect the company through the relevant technical requirements of the United States Department of agriculture, but the final project was not launched. In recent years, the company has no plans for the US business.

"At present, our company's business is mainly in the domestic and export countries such as Japan and Korea.

We think this victory is more symbolic than the counterattack against US trade protectionism, but in the short term it is difficult to achieve real trade benefits.

The above said.

"At present, Chinese poultry can not enter the United States market, and China's poultry exports to the United States need to carry out a series of work."

The head of the Ministry of food, fisheries and Fisheries of China's food, animal and meat import and export association has told the economic information daily that the US Department of agriculture has conducted an equivalent assessment of the safety system of China's cooked poultry meat pmission system.

If passed, the US Department of food safety inspection (FSIS) will form a motion to include China in the list of countries exporting poultry meat to the United States. It will be released online and will take effect only after three months of deliberation.

The chamber of Commerce will vigorously cooperate with relevant export enterprises and Chinese government departments in every link, and comprehensively promote the early export of Chinese poultry cooked products to the United States.

The US import restrictions on Chinese poultry products have caused heavy losses to the Chinese industry.

China's food and Animal Import and Export Chamber of Commerce told the economic information daily that the United States has always been the first source of Chinese poultry imports before the "double reverse".

In 2009, China imported 759 thousand tons of poultry meat, of which 649 thousand tons were imported from the United States, accounting for 85.5%.

In the first eight months of this year, China imported 366 thousand tons of poultry meat and imported 81 thousand tons from the United States, accounting for 22.1%.

"China hopes that the US side will attach importance to China's concerns and take further active measures to eliminate any discriminatory measures specifically designed for Chinese poultry."

The director of the law department of the Ministry of Commerce reiterated 26 days that it hoped that the US side would conduct fair and fair evaluation of poultry meat in China and import inspection, so as to realize the normal trade of poultry meat between the two countries as soon as possible.

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In recent years, with the continuous expansion of the US trade deficit with China, the United States has imposed various forms of trade restrictions on China, and has tried to create new tools to meet its needs.

In the "China v. American poultry restriction measure", the United States comprehensive appropriation Act 2009 restricting the import of Chinese poultry meat is another innovation of US trade protection.

Dr. Gu bin, Law School of the University of foreign trade and economics, said that the US restrictions on China's poultry import measures were the WTO related cases in 2009.

China needs to take this case as an opportunity to master the litigation strategy, break through the blockade of trade protection measures, and achieve the pformation from the main victims of trade friction to the effective role of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in safeguarding their own interests.

China should learn to use the WTO rules to safeguard its rights and interests, and this first requires enterprises to be familiar with the relevant procedures of foreign trade disputes. Hang Guoliang, a lawyer at Jun He law firm, told the economic reference daily that as an enterprise, if there is an unfair phenomenon in international trade, we must first be brave enough to prosecute. If the International Trade Tribunal still can not solve it, it can still be prosecuted to the United States Federal Circuit Court, and it can not be solved. It can reflect the situation to the Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments, and the government will request WTO to make a ruling.

In addition, enterprises should also pay attention to providing evidence for the Ministry of Commerce to use, in the examination and testing links, etc., to cooperate with the competent government departments.

Chen Eryi, a lawyer at Huachen law firm of national Gang, told the economic reference daily that Chinese enterprises should take the initiative to make use of the rules of WTO to safeguard their rights and interests. "No matter whether the final result is a good lawsuit or a losing lawsuit, it is beneficial to enterprises."

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have suffered many foreign anti-dumping, countervailing and other trade issues. The prosecution of WTO rules can bring pressure on these governments and enterprises to arouse their attention.

As a state competent department, it should play an increasingly important role.

Chen Eryi believed that the Ministry of Commerce played an important role as an official in winning the case. "Because a trade dispute is won by a simple one or two enterprises. The world trade expert group has great energy. In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce and other state functional departments played an important role.

Many anti dumping and countervailing measures we encountered before, because the government is not familiar with the rules or procedures of WTO, and so on, did not take many measures to counter such cases. In recent years, with the deepening of the government's understanding and the efforts of enterprises, we have won more and more prosecutions.