The WTO Appellate Body released its final ruling on a US countervailing duty law affecting Chinese products which is also known otherwise as the “GPX Legislation”. According to WTO ruling there was not enough factual analysis in a previous panel decision to determine whether the law violates Washington’s international trade obligations.
The dispute had been filed by China in 2012 with the WTO over Public Law 112-99, enacted by the US in the same year, alleging that it violated WTO rules.The law commonly referred to as the GPX legislation that expressly provided for the application of countervailing also known as anti-subsidy – duties to NMEs.
In March this year, the WTO dispute panel disagreed with China’s claim that the US law was inconsistent with WTO rules. China appealed the DSB’s decision, but the Appellate Body has now said that it was not able to uphold the appeal as it did not have enough information.
On the other hand, WTO dispute panel had found that the US had failed to investigate and avoid “double remedies” in 25 anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, thus violating the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM) Agreement.
Both China and US claiming victory for this mixed report from the WTO’s Appellate Body.
