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Living together with anti-dumping lawsuits
Thirty-one anti-dumping lawsuits have been raised so far against Vietnamese products, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
According to Thai Bao Anh, Director of Bao and Partners Law Firm, Vietnamese enterprises had not heard of anti-dumping lawsuits until 1994, when Columbian enterprises initiated a lawsuit against Vietnamese rice.
Since then, the number of anti-dumping lawsuits has been increasing and expanding in many fields, with more and more export items being the subjects of suits.
Most recently, the Vietnam Plastics Association reported that US plastics bag producers sent a document to the US Trade Representative Office, protesting the preferences granted to Vietnam under the framework of the generalised system of preferences, saying that they are considering raising a lawsuit against Vietnam.
Dinh Thi My Loan, Chairwoman of the Trade Remedies Council (TRC) under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), also said that the risks of anti-dumping lawsuits are very high, and that lawsuits may be raised against export items which have big export turnover. The risks seem to be bigger in the context of the US recession, which has put US companies in difficulties. This has prompted its enterprises to pay more attention to anti-dumping lawsuits, a tool to protect local production.
“Vietnamese exporters should get used to living together with anti-dumping lawsuits,” Loan said.
VCCI has set up TRC in order to assist Vietnamese enterprises in preventing and dealing with trade remedy cases including anti-dumping, anti-subsidy lawsuits and instruct them in safeguard measures.
Lawyer Ken Pierce from the US-based Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, who had strong attachments to Vietnamese exporters in the catfish and shrimp lawsuits, said that Vietnamese enterprises need to prepare thoroughly and have information in order to win cases. He said that the biggest problem for exporters in such lawsuits is a lack of preparation with insufficient or inaccurate information.
Lawyer Thai Bao Anh also said that the cooperation of exporters plays a very important role in the investigation. “Exporters, instead of trying to prove they are right, need to focus on trying to minimise the possible anti-dumping tax rates on their products by providing all the information the investigation requires,” he said.
Anh said that the catfish and shrimp lawsuits showed that Vietnamese enterprises need to diversify their export markets in order to disperse risks of the lawsuits.
VNN
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