This is from trade lawyer Luiz Eduardo Salles:
The TPP text has been made public. The text is yet subject to legal scrubbing by the signatories, but this version should be nearly identical to the finally authenticated text.
There is great excitement with the TPP given the potentially novel disciplines on trade it offers. For the antidumping geeks, however, the TPP is no revolution. Chapter 6 of the TPP deals with “Trade Remedies”. Section B covers “Antidumping and Countervailing Duties”. Section B’s only Article is 6.8, which states that:
1. Each Party retains its rights and obligations under Article VI of GATT 1994, the AD Agreement and the SCM Agreement.”;”
2. Nothing in this Agreement shall confer any rights or impose any obligations on the Parties with regard to proceedings or measures taken pursuant to Article VI of GATT 1994, the AD Agreement or the SCM Agreement.;“
3. No Party shall have recourse to dispute settlement under Chapter 28 (Dispute Settlement) for any matter arising under this Section or Annex 6-A (Practices Relating to Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings).
The Chapter on Trade Remedies also includes an Annex 6-A, dealing with “Practices Relating to Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings”. Annex 6-A is drafted as a recognition of certain best practices which are procedural in nature, such as advance notice of initiations of investigations and of intent to promote verifications, issuance of verification and essential facts-available reports, maintenance of public files, issuance of deficiency letters and the granting of opportunities for parties to provide explanations and additional information.
Therefore, it seems clear from the text of Chapter 6 that the TPP does not add legally enforceable disciplines to the arsenal of dumping regulations. There is only an attempt to entice certain so-called “best practices”, the result of which will need a longer term window to be figured-out. More important, for the antidumping geeks, is that the dispute settlement carve-out in Article 6.8.3 seems to imply that the WTO will remain the international forum of choice for battling over antidumping and countervailing duties.
