WTO issues ruling on Vietnam's shrimp lawsuit

According to a VNA correspondent in Geneva, on July 11, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a final ruling supporting two of three basic complaints by Vietnam in the lawsuit against the US applying anti-dumping measures on frozen shrimp exported from Vietnam.

The WTO panel's ruling stated that the US's application of the zeroing method to calculate anti-dumping duties is in violation of WTO regulations. This is Vietnam's core complaint, because the use of this method has created a large dumping margin for the product, causing the tax rate to increase, causing damage to Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises.

The US anti-dumping tax rate for most Vietnamese shrimp exporters is set at between 4.13% and 25.76%.

The WTO also upheld Vietnam's second main complaint against the US, finding that the US's use of zeroing results to calculate the overall tariff rate in the second and third reviews was inconsistent with WTO rules.

The national tax rate that the US and other countries impose on enterprises of non-market economy countries such as Vietnam and China is the general tax rate imposed on enterprises that do not meet the market economy standards set by those countries. This tax rate is often much higher than the normal calculation method according to WTO regulations, causing damage to exporting enterprises.

The panel also concluded that the US's use of publicly available data to calculate national duty rates in the second and third reviews was inconsistent with WTO rules.

However, the Panel decided that the continued use of the measures under challenge, referring to the 4th, 5th and final reviews, was not within the scope of the Panel's discussion. This is a point that is not in Vietnam's favor, as it will not change the results of the 4th, 5th and especially the final review.

According to WTO regulations, after this ruling of the Panel, both sides have 60 days to appeal to the WTO's appellate body.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) and consulting lawyers, if Vietnam wins the lawsuit, it will bring great benefits to the competitiveness of Vietnamese frozen shrimp in the US market because it does not have to deposit anti-dumping money, and Vietnamese shrimp exporting enterprises will completely escape anti-dumping tax because the results of three consecutive reviews have been 0%./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)