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Compendium of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Laws
in the Western Hemisphere


  1. Procedures for Due Process

    1. Access to Public Information

      WTO Standard: The authorities shall whenever practicable provide timely opportunities for all interested parties to see all information that is relevant to the presentation of their cases, that is not confidential [...] and that is used by the authorities in an anti-dumping or countervailing duty investigation, and to prepare presentations on the basis of this information. (AD Agreement, Art. 6.4; SCM Agreement, Art. 12.3)

      The authorities shall require interested parties providing confidential information to furnish non-confidential summaries thereof. These summaries shall be in sufficient detail to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence. In exceptional circumstances, such parties may indicate that such information is not susceptible of summary. In such exceptional circumstances, a statement of the reasons why summarization is not possible must be provided. (AD Agreement, Art. 6.5.1; SCM Agreement, Art. 12.4.1)


Argentina

   The standards of the WTO Agreements are directly applied. The provisions of Decree 2121/94 are supplementarily applied. Information received is made available to the interested parties within 8 working days, except for information which has been deemed as confidential. (Decree No. 2121/94, Art. 44).

   Any persons submitting information may request at the time of its submission that it be treated as confidential, provide evidence to the competent implementing authority of the need for such treatment, and make this need clear by means of marking the document "CONFIDENTIAL" in the top right-hand corner of each page.

   Confidentiality may not be requested for information not submitted voluntarily.

   The implementing authority will decide within 5 working days regarding the claim for confidential treatment. During this period the information in question shall be given confidential treatment.

   If confidentiality is refused, the person submitting the information may withdraw it.

   A condition of confidential treatment is the attachment of a non-confidential summary so that it can be included in the investigation.

   If those submitting confidential information indicate that it may not be summarized, they must give reason why this is impossible and the implementing authority shall consider whether or not to accept it. (Id., Art. 45).

Bolivia

   Interested parties may have access to and obtain the information provided to the Technical Secretariat by any of the interested parties, with the exception of the internal documents prepared by the Technical Secretariat and confidential documents.

   For this purpose, they shall make an application in writing to the Technical Secretariat indicating the specific matters on which they require information and, if the request is accepted, the information shall be provided in writing. Bi-ministerial Decision, Art. 21.

   The authorities shall require interested parties providing confidential information to furnish non-confidential summaries thereof.

   These summaries shall be in sufficient detail to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

   In exceptional circumstances, such parties may indicate that such information is not susceptible of summary.

   In such exceptional circumstances, a statement of the reasons why summarization is not possible must be provided. (AD Agreement, Art. 6.5.1; SCM Agreement, Art. 12.4.1).

   The interested parties should therefore indicate the reasons for which they seek confidential treatment of certain evidence and documents and should annex a non-confidential summary of this information. Bi-ministerial Decision, Art. 17.

Brazil

   Interested parties may request, in writing, to see case information, which shall be promptly made available to said parties, with the exception of confidential information and internal government documents. These parties shall be given the opportunity to defend their interests, in writing, on the basis of said information. (Dec. 1602/95 - Art. 32, Dec. 1751/95 - Art. 42.2).

   Interested parties submitting confidential information, shall present a non-confidential summary of same presenting a reasonable overview of the information submitted. In cases where it would not be possible to present the summary, the parties shall give their reasons therefore in writing. (Dec. 1602/95 - Art. 28.1, Dec. 1751/95 - Art. 38.1).

Canada

   Where information is provided to the Deputy Minister, every party to the proceedings has, unless the information is confidential, a right on request to examine the information during normal business hours and a right, on payment of the prescribed fee, to be provided with copies of any such information that is in documentary form or that is in any other form in which it may be readily and accurately copied. Art. 83.

   Where a person submits to the Deputy Minster a statement designating evidence as confidential, together with the explanation referred to in that subsection, the person shall submit to the Deputy Minister, at the same time, a summary of the evidence designated as confidential in sufficient detail to convey a reasonable understanding of the evidence. Art. 79 (2).

Chile

   The Commission shall whenever feasible give timely opportunity to all interested parties to examine any relevant information used by the authorities in their antidumping investigation, provided that such information is not confidential, so that those parties may use it in the preparation of their arguments. The Commission will ask those interested parties submitting confidential information to include a non-confidential summary thereof. These summaries should be sufficiently detailed to permit a reasonable understanding of the basic contents of the confidential information submitted. In exceptional circumstances, these parties may declare such information incapable of such a summary. Under such exceptional circumstances, they must explain the reasons why the information cannot be summarized. (Supreme Decree No. 16, Ministry of External Relations, published in the Diario Oficial on May 17, 1995).

Colombia

   Any person may have access to the nonconfidential documents referred to in Decree 299 and may request the issue of photocopies, as provided for in the Administrative Litigation Code. (Decree 299, Chapter 7, Art. 44).

Costa Rica

   The authorities shall whenever practicable provide timely opportunities for all interested parties to see all information that is relevant to the presentation of their cases, that is not confidential [...] and that is used by the authorities in an anti- dumping investigation, and to prepare presentations of this information.

   The authorities shall require interested parties providing confidential information to furnish non-confidential summaries thereof.

   These summaries shall be in sufficient detail to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

   In exceptional circumstances, such parties may indicate that such information is not susceptible of summary.

   In such exceptional circumstances, a statement of the reasons why summarization is not possible must be provided.

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

   During the investigation the interested parties shall have access to information of a general nature and documents which are not confidential, as well as to summaries or analyses of the evidence.

El Salvador

   El Salvador notifies in accordance with the provisions of the Antidumping and Subsidies and Countervailing Measure Agreements.

Guatemala

Honduras

Jamaica

Mexico

   Articles 80 of the Law and 147 of the Regulations indicate that the investigating authority, following a request by the parties and in fulfillment of the requirements provided for in Articles 159 and 160 of the Regulations, allows the examination of all the nonconfidential information contained in the administrative file for the presentation of arguments.

   This information may be reviewed by the parties during the proceedings of investigation and review, appeal for annulment, trial before the Upper Chamber of the Fiscal Tribunal of the Federation, and alternative mechanisms for the settlement of disputes in the matter of unfair international trade practices referred to in the international treaties to which Mexico is a party.

   Article 53 of the Law sets forth as a general rule that, when the investigating authority makes the initiation of an investigation known to the parties concerned that it has knowledge of and to the authorities of the exporting country, they are sent a copy of the full text of the petition presented and its appendices (with the exception of privileged, confidential and trade information) or, when appropriate, copies of the corresponding documents dealing with official investigations.

   The former is sent without the need for a request by the parties concerned.

   In addition, Article 80 of the Law states that during the investigative proceedings, at the petition of the parties concerned or their representatives, the investigating authority allows access to all nonconfidential information contained in the administrative file of any other investigation, after 60 working days have elapsed since publication of the corresponding final decision.

Nicaragua

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Santa Lucia

Trinidad and Tobago

   The Authority will ensure that all interested persons are given reasonable opportunity to have access to all non-confidential information relevant to the presentation of their case and used by the Authority in the investigation. (Sec 19(b)).

United States

   1. COMMERCE

   The public record of all AD/CVD investigations and reviews is maintained in the Central Records Unit of the Commerce Department in Washington, DC and is available to the public for inspection and copying.

   2. ITC

   The public record of injury investigations is maintained in the Dockets Room of the International Trade Commission in Washington, DC and is available for public inspection and copying.

   U.S. law requires that parties providing information for which proprietary treatment is requested also provide a non-proprietary summary in sufficient detail to permit a reasonable understanding of the substance of the information submitted in confidence.

   In certain circumstances, parties may indicate that such information is not susceptible to summary.

Uruguay

Venezuela

   "The applicant, importers and exporters involved in an investigation and other interested parties shall have access to all the information provided to the Commission or the Technical Secretariat by any of the parties concerned, with the exception of the information declared confidential in accordance with [the 1992 Law]". (1992 Law, Art. 44)

   ". . . the party concerned shall indicate the grounds for treating the information as confidential and shall attach a non-confidential summary or an explanation of the reasons why such a summary cannot be made". (1992 Law, Art. 48)

 
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