Japan requests the establishment of a panel under the WTO Agreement regarding China’s measure imposing Anti-dumping Duties on Certain High-performance Stainless Steel Seamless Tubes from Japan.

China initiated an anti-dumping investigation against certain imports of HP-SSST from Japan and the EU on September 8, 2011 and made a final determination* to impose anti-dumping duties on November 8, 2012.

Japan considers that China's imposing of anti-dumping duties is inconsistent with the WTO Anti-dumping Agreement (Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994) because of flaws in the determination of injury and a causal relationship and in the investigation procedure. Therefore, Japan requested consultations with China under the WTO Agreement on December 20, 2012. The consultations were held on January 31 and February 1, 2013.

Based on the result of the consultations with China, Japan requests the establishment of a panel under the WTO Agreement regarding China's measure imposing anti-dumping duties on HP-SSST imported from Japan, on which China made a final determination on November 8, 2012.

* China imposed 9.2%-14.4% of anti-dumping duties on Japanese companies regarding certain HP-SSST exported from Japan to China for five years from November 9, 2012.

Japan will seek an appropriate solution to this issue in accordance with the WTO Agreements.

(1) What is HP-SSST?

HP-SSST is high-grade steel used in ultra supercritical boilers in coal-fired power plants.

(2) What is an anti-dumping duty?

An anti-dumping duty is a custom duty imposed on a certain product by the importing country where it is demonstrated that the export price of the product is less than its selling price destined for consumption in the exporting country ("dumping") and the dumped imports are causing injury to the competing industry in the importing country. The amount of anti-dumping duty cannot exceed the difference between the export price of the product and the domestic selling price of the like product in the exporting country.

(3) The amount of Japan's export of certain HP-SSST to China

Japan's export of certain HP-SSST to China was approximately 72 million US dollars in 2011.

(4) What is a panel under the WTO Agreement?

If consultations fail to settle a dispute, based on the request from the complaining party, the WTO panel examines the matter and gives rulings regarding the consistency with the WTO Agreement. A party that is not satisfied with the panel rulings may appeal to the WTO Appellate Body.

April 11, 2013

• Multilateral Trade System Department, Trade Policy Bureau
• Iron and Steel Division, Manufacturing Industries Bureau
• Northeast Asia Division, Trade Policy Bureau