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Exporters neglect dumping weapons
Vietnamese exporters are increasingly facing anti-dumping lawsuits in other countries but they are taking no action themselves despite suffering as cheap imports flood Viet Nam, according to a senior trade official.
"They have been suffering severe losses," Nguyen Duc Thanh, Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Competition Management Department, said at a conference in Ha Noi last Friday.
Vietnamese laws provide for action against dumping, subsidy and other acts that could injure local producers in line with World Trade Organisation provisions.
"With deeper integration, Viet Nam would have [no choice but] to take this course," Thanh said.
But to file an anti-dumping suit, local firms must first understand the procedures: They need to prove that imports have at least 25 per cent market share of a product and that dumping is the reason for their losses.
If they want to claim safeguards, they need to prove that the sudden increase in import of a certain good caused severe losses to local producers.
While the rationale behind anti-dumping and anti-subsidy action is that countries are entitled to take action against unfair foreign competition, safeguards are designed to protect countries from unforeseen surges in imports that cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry.
Thanh said: "Most enterprises and business associations do not have enough information while State agencies are ineffective. Therefore, businesses are unable to sue."
Shaping up
But the situation is improving, with Thanh’s department already receiving some documents from business associations to prepare for filing suits against some imported goods.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese exports have faced 37 lawsuits on charges of anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguards. Besides markets like the US and Europe, even nations that are thought to be close partners, like India, have slapped them.
"Exporters should consider that kind of lawsuit a business risk but they need systems to manage that risk," Thanh said.
"For instance, firms could refuse low-value orders to limit the risk of lawsuits."
vietnamplus
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