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Submitted by ctv_en_3 on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 16:00
In the international integration, enterprises have to cope with many anti-dumping lawsuits. As Vietnam is not yet recognised as a market-oriented economy, enterprises are often put at a disadvantage when getting involved in anti-dumping cases.

What is a non-market economy and how does it relate to anti-dumping lawsuits?

Former deputy minister of Industry and Trade Luong Van Tu says that anti-dumping and non-market economies is a controversial issue within the World Trade Organisation.

Many countries take advantage of anti-dumping laws to protect their local market, which affects the global economy. Meanwhile, each country has a different criterion in terms of market economy. Moreover, regulations on pricing criteria should be reconsidered to see if one country dumps their product in another or not.

Mr Tu said that when a market is not recognised as a market-economy, enterprises putting forward trade charges often compare export prices to those prices experienced in a third country. However, if a market is recognised as a market economy, these enterprises will take prices in the local market in comparison with the export price of their products. Therefore, many Vietnamese enterprises will suffer high tariffs in tra and basa catfish lawsuits. In fact, prices in the local market are much lower than export prices. Meanwhile, the prices of tra and basa catfish exports have been brought in line to compare with the prices of Indian products. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises are said to dump their products in foreign markets.

 

In fact, anti-dumping and non-market regulations are two different issues. Deputy Associate Professor, Dr Tran Dinh Thien from the Vietnam Economics Institute said the sooner Vietnam becomes a market economy, the easier it will be able to seize opportunities. Currently, the Vietnamese market has not operated synchronously. This is a great challenge for the country after two years of being in the WTO. Therefore, the country needs a real market economy and not recognition from any country.


However, in fact not all 150 WTO member countries have introduced regulations on the non-market economy. Therefore, these countries’ recognition of Vietnam being a market economy or non-market economy does not have much commercial meaning.


Le Sy Giang, an expert from the Competition Management Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the sooner Vietnam builds up its market economy, the quicker other countries must recorgnise Vietnam as a market economy country. However, Vietnam must study its commitments on anti-dumping prices and subsidies in depth after joining the WTO.


Adam McCarty from the Mekong Research Institute said that in the WTO’s regulations, there is no clear definition of a non-market economy. Therefore, the WTO could not operate as a forum when talking about the issue. In such cases, the WTO cannot bring out a decision to resolve the casual approaches of some countries which lodge anti-dumping lawsuits. Thus, economic experts have advised that Vietnam should develop protective measures to cope with anti-dumping lawsuits.


Adam McCarty said that to avoid anti-dumping lawsuits, countries should build and carry out commercial protective measures for domestic products in line with WTO regulations. However, they need to take care of customers’ benefits and only encourage the use of the most effective protective measures. In addition, they should develop qualified commercial experts in the private sector, improve businesses’ awareness, build effective self-defence systems, conduct long-term research and devise suitable lobbying strategies.


Anti-dumping lawsuits are common in global trade and Vietnamese enterprises have undergone a number of anti-dumping lawsuits such as tra and basa catfish in the US and footwear and lighters in the EU. Procedures to reform business activities will help enterprises avoid anti-dumping lawsuits and enjoy the right conditions to be able to take part in global trade.

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