RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/ADP/3
14December 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-4075)
Original: Spanish Committee onAnti-Dumping Practices
REQUEST FOR CONSULTATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 17.3
OFTHE AGREEMENT ONIMPLEMENTATION OF
ARTICLE VIOFTHE GENERAL AGREEMENT
ONTARIFFS AND TRADE 1994
Thefollowing communication, dated 6December 1995, hasbeenreceived fromthePermanent
Mission ofArgentina.
_______________
Inaccordance with theprovisions ofArticle 17,paragraph 3,oftheAgreement on
Implementation ofArticle VIoftheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade 1994, theGovernment
oftheArgentine Republic requests urgent consultations withtheGovernment ofVenezuela.
Themeasure which thisrequest concerns istheinvestigation, foralleged dumping, currently
being carried outbytheVenezuelan Anti-Dumping andSubsidization Commission (CASS) intoimports
ofoilcountry tubular goods (OCTG), ofcircular cross-section, withseam orseamless, whether or
notcomplying withtheAmerican Petroleum Institute 'stechnical standard, including production tubing
andcasing, solely infilleted/threaded andfinished formandnotassemi-finished (green) tubes, coming
from andoriginating intheArgentine Republic.
On5June1995, Grupo BPCA Tubulares Petroleros C.A. (BPCA) requested theVenezuelan
Anti-DumpingandSubsidizationCommissiontoinitiateananti-dumpinginvestigation.Initsapplication
andthesupplementtheretosubmittedaweeklateritclaimeddumpingof"OCTG"comingfromArgentina
andMexico andtheexistence ofinjury totheVenezuelan industry. On15June1995, theVenezuelan
authorities officially decided toopenaninvestigation.
BCPA isaprocessing/finishing firm. Itsmainactivity isimporting unfinished ("green") tubing
from suchorigins asArgentina andMexico, processing andfinishing these imported products and
marketing thefinished tubes, mainly ontheVenezuelan market. BPCA limited itscomplaint tofinished
OCTG, anddidnotinclude unfinished tubes, which itpresumably intended tocontinue importing.
Inaddition toBCPA, there aretwoother firms producing similar products intheVenezuelan
industry, CONDUSID, which likeBPCA isaprocessor/finisher ofunfinished tubes, andSIDOR, the
onlyintegrated producer offinished OCTG inVenezuela.
CONDUSID (which represent 27percentofproduction) explicitly opposed theinvestigation
byanotedated 5June1995, andsubsequently submitted aformal reply acknowledging thattherewas
noinjury whatsoever resulting fromtheimports fromArgentina andMexico. SIDOR (which represents
38percentofproduction) never expressed support fortheapplication.
./.G/ADP/3
Page2
On21August 1995, BPCA -thesolecomplainant -formally andunconditionally withdrew
itscomplaint, stating that"world market conditions andtheinternal situation ontheVenezuelan market
itself hadchanged, sothattheobjective situation thathadledtothesubmission ofthecomplaint had
ceased toexist". Following theformal withdrawal ofthecomplaint byBPCA, nomember ofthe
Venezuelan industry supports theinvestigation.
TheGovernment ofArgentina believes thattheinvestigation isinconsistent with, interalia,
theprovisions ofArticles 1,3.1,3.2,3.3,3.4,3.5,4.1,5.1,5.2,5.4,5.6and5.8oftheAgreement
onImplementation ofArticle VIoftheGeneral Agreement onTariffs andTrade 1994 andArticle VI
oftheGATT.
Inparticular, itconsiders thatthedecision tocontinue theinvestigation ex-officio "forreasons
ofpublic interest" hasnobasis intheAnti-Dumping Agreement andignores abasic groundrule of
theAnti-Dumping regime, namely thatthecomplaint must havethesupport ofthelocalindustry.
Furthermore, itisclear thatinaccordance withArticle 5.8oftheAgreement thenational
authoritiesmustimmediatelyterminateanyinvestigationwhentheyaresatisfiedthatthereisnotsufficient
evidence ofinjury tojustify proceeding withthecase, acondition which hasexisted fromthemoment
theindustry withdrew thecomplaint.
Without prejudice totheforgoing, andintheevent thattheVenezuelan authorities should apply
provisional measures, theGovernment oftheArgentine Republic reserves therighttoavailitself of
theprovisions ofparagraph 4ofArticle 17oftheAnti-Dumping Agreement andArticle 4ofthe
Understanding onRules andProcedures Governing theSettlement ofDisputes.