WTO
Challenges and Decisions
Current Status:
Documents and filings related to these WTO
cases are available from the ITCanada
website, and at the WTO
website where they can be found by searching under the document symbols
shown below (e.g. WT/DS277).
Threat of Injury Determination Challenge
(WT/DS277): The final panel report for this
challenge was completed on March
22, 2004. Among the
findings, the panel found that "looking at the evidence relied on by
the United States in support of the determination, [they] could not accept
that the conclusion is one that could be reached by an objective and
unbiased decision maker".
On
November 24, 2004 the United States issued a determination to comply with the
WTO panel’s recommendations and rulings ("the section 129
determination").
Following a new investigation the United States again reached the conclusion
that the US softwood lumber industry was threatened with material injury by
reason of imports of softwood lumber from Canada alleged to be subsidized
and dumped. The US amended its
countervailing duty and anti-dumping determinations to refer to this new
ruling and on January 25, 2005, informed the WTO that it had complied with
its recommendations and rulings.
Canada appealed this
implementation of the WTO decision to the WTO, and a panel was formed on
March 2, 2005. The Panel's report was released November 15, 2005 and stated
that the Panel found that the United States had conformed to the March 2004
Panel requirements.
NEW!!! Canada appealed the November 15, 2005 Panel result.
On April 13, the WTO Appellate body reversed the Panel's finding that the US
had conformed with the panel instructions in its revised injury
determination. However, this Appeal Panel result does not have the power to
require the US to reverse its decision, and Canada will now decide whether
it will initiate a new WTO challenge on the US determination of injury.
Dumping Determination Challenge
(WT/DS264):
The final panel report was issued on April 13, 2004. It
found that elements of the US anti-dumping determination regarding softwood
lumber were inconsistent with US WTO obligations. The US appealed the
report and on August 11, 2004, the Appellate Body released its findings,
which largely upheld the Panel’s report.
On May
2, 2005, the US announced new anti-dumping rates to apply from April 27,
2005. Commerce announced that it calculated these rates using a different
methodology in order to implement the recommendations of the WTO. The new
rates were, in general, higher than the original investigation rates, with
an 'All Others' rate of 11.54%.
NEW!!!
Canada appealed this
implementation. On April 3, 2006 the panel released its finding that
the US had not acted inconsistently with its WTO obligations in its
recalculation of the anti-dumping duties.
Subsidy
(CVD) Determination Challenge
(WT/DS257): The
WTO panel report in this challenge was released on August 29, 2003. It was appealed and on January 19, 2004, the WTO
Appellate Body released its report, reversing some of the panel’s
decisions and upholding others.
As a result of these rulings, the US was required to conduct a
“pass-through analysis” to determine whether any subsidy was passed through
to the purchaser in arm's length sales of logs by tenured
harvesters/sawmills to unrelated sawmills.
On December
6, 2004 the US released an amended countervailing duty determination and
informed the WTO that it had complied with its rulings. On January
4, 2005, Canada requested that the WTO establish a panel to review the US
implementation of the pass-through analysis.
On August
1, 2005, the WTO Panel found that in the Section 129 Determination, and in
the first Administrative Review, the United States failed to properly
implement the WTO's previous recommendations and rulings by failing to
conduct a pass-through analysis in respect of sales of logs by tenured
timber harvesters to unrelated lumber producers.
A US appeal of this decision was denied on December 5, 2005. If the US does not
bring their measures into conformity with the Panel result, Canada will
have the right to apply retaliatory tariffs. Canada requested
authorization to retaliate against the United States in the amount of C$200
million related to this pass-through analysis; however, the amount has not
yet been confirmed.
Expedited Review
Challenge (WT/DS311): On 14
April 2004, Canada requested consultations with the United States concerning:
(i) the failure of the US Department of Commerce (DOC) to complete expedited
reviews of the countervailing duty order concerning certain softwood lumber
products from Canada in order to promptly establish an individual
countervailing duty rate for each requesting exporter; and (ii) the refusal
and failure of DOC to conduct company-specific administrative reviews of
the same countervailing duty order in order to establish a final individual
countervailing duty rate for each requesting exporter.
No Panel has been formed in
this dispute.
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