WTO panel rules illegal US dumping offsetting act
A World Trade Organisation panel has ruled illegal the US Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, the so-called Byrd amendment, EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy said.
The Act allows the US government to redistribute to steel producers or other companies which demanded action, some of the revenues from the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties that were applied.
Under the Byrd amendment, such companies were entitled to receive offsetting payments to cover certain expenses - like investment in manufacturing facilities and acquisition of technology - which were incurred to produce a product after anti-dumping measures were imposed on imports of the same item.
In its first annual distribution, in January, the US government gave out almost $207 million, mainly to steel producers, the commission said. The next distribution is due in November.
Lamy said he hopes that after the WTO panel decision the US will promptly repeal the Byrd amendment, as the panel recommends.
The panel said that the Byrd amendment provides help for domestic producers which goes beyond the anti-dumping or countervailing duties which already help them against imports and which was not envisaged by WTO legislation.
In an unprecedented move, passage of the Byrd amendment provoked 11 WTO members including the EU, Canada, Australia and Brazil, to immediately request a WTO panel against it and six others to join in the case as third parties, the commission said.
