May 7, 2002	Tuesday	Safar 23, 1423

KARACHI, May 6: The chairman, National Tariff Commission (NTC), Faizullah Khilji on Monday called for developing local expertise on anti-dumping laws, which are highly technical and are of legal nature.

This was stated by the NTC chief at the inaugural session of one day seminar on ‘Anti-Dumping Law and Procedures’ jointly organized by textile associations and Quota Supervisory Council (QSC) of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).

Since anti-dumping laws are governed by international treaties, therefore, to fight such cases, a lot of expertise and high skill was required, he maintained.

On the contrary, he said, in the past it had been witnessed that trade bodies, affected by punitive duties imposed by importing countries, instead of adopting proper and professional recourse, resorted to pressurizing government through media.

It had been witnessed, he said, that whenever a punitive duty had been imposed, exporters approached high-ups in Islamabad through letters as well as a large number of appeals start appearing in print media.

Khilji suggested such methods would not work as highly technical and legal matters have to be handled in their true perspective and by experts and qualified people who are well abreast with the international laws and treaties.

Services of foreign experts to fight anti-dumping cases were very costly, he maintained. On an average, he said, foreign experts charge $400 to $500 per hour for fighting anti-dumping case.

Undoubtedly, he said, exports are very important for the economy and it becomes a matter of concern when anti- dumping duties are imposed because they become stumbling block.

The anti-dumping duty law is a complicated piece of legislature and under WTO over 100 countries are signatory to the agreement, he said. However, he said, presently EU, US, Canada and Australia have their anti-dumping laws, while others including Mexico, India are on way to promulgate their laws.

The NTC chairman said the Anti-Dumping Committee of WTO is there to remove ambiguities in the law and one can always approach this world body for filing an appeal.

In a global liberal and free trade regime, Khilji said, these laws have been made to give fair chance to all the countries who vary in their costs of inputs and skills, therefore, it should be looked at as a facilitator of ‘fairness and competence’ to all.

The NTC chief advised the exporters to immediately supply necessary information and data sought by the importing country in case it intends to proceed for an anti-dumping battle or else, he said one sided decision would be imposed.

However, he said the NTC is there to protect local industry from an injury which may be caused by dumping from other countries. He further said that NTC is carrying its job under Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Standardization Ordinance 2000, and as such has little to do with the difficulties confronting exporters.

It was interesting to note that a very large number of experts from different fields participated in the seminar but there was no representation from QSC, one of the organizer of the event.

The speakers who participated in the technical sessions included Director General NTC Abdul Khaliq Chishti, Deputy Director NTC Imran and Director General EPB Siddique Alvi.