Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:12:05.401Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Analogue Method Comes Unfastened – The Awkward Space between Market and Non-Market Economies in EC–Fasteners (Article 21.5)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2018

ILARIA ESPA*
Affiliation:
Università della Svizzera italiana, Lugano and World Trade Institute, University of Bern
PHILIP I. LEVY*
Affiliation:
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management

Abstract

The compliance Appellate Body decision marks the latest twist in the long-running EC–Fasteners dispute. The question before the AB is whether the European Union complied with earlier rulings on its anti-dumping procedures. Broadly, the AB found that the EU had not, generally ruling in favor of the People's Republic of China. In the process, the AB raised interesting questions about what it means to be a Non-Market Economy (NME) in the WTO. While NME status has traditionally led to large dumping margins, the AB approach in this case may lessen the consequences for China. Among other things, the case raises the interesting and important question of how pervasive the taint of NME status may be when calculating margins. By allowing for adjustments of certain costs, the AB seems to constrain the more draconian analogue country methodology of calculation.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Ilaria Espa and Philip I. Levy 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We are grateful to our discussant, Edwin Vermulst, and participants at the European University Institute conference. All remaining errors are our own.

References

Bown, C. P and Mavroidis, P. C. (2013), ‘One (Firm) Is Not Enough: A Legal–Economic Analysis of EC–Fasteners’, World Trade Review, 12: 243–71.Google Scholar
Donnan, S., Hornby, L., and Beesley, A. (2016), ‘China Challenges EU and US over Market Economy Status’, Financial Times, 12 December 2016.Google Scholar
Dunoff, J. and Moore, M. (2014), ‘Footloose and Duty-Free? Reflections on European Union – Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Footwear from China’, World Trade Review, 13(2): 149178.Google Scholar
European Commission (2016), ‘College orientation debate on the treatment of China in anti-dumping investigations’, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-61_en.htm.Google Scholar
Inside US Trade (2017), ‘Official: German Minister Did Not Say China Should Automatically Have MES’, 30 May 2017.Google Scholar
US–China Economic and Security Review Commission (2017), ‘Evaluation of China's Nonmarket Economy Status’, Issue Brief, 18 April 2017.Google Scholar
Vermulst, E. and Meng, M. (2017), ‘Dumping and Subsidy Issues in the Renewable Energy Sector’, in Cottier, T. and Espa, I. (eds.), International Trade in Sustainable Electricity: Regulatory Challenges in International Economic Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 336355.Google Scholar