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Anti-dumping measures encouraged

September 20, 2014

– HA NOI — As the country integrates into the global economy, anti-dumping tariffs will be one of the most effective tools for domestic enterprises to protect their market share, experts said at a conference on September 18, 2014 in Ha Noi.

The conference followed the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s decision to impose tariffs on steel imports from mainland China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia. The move aimed to protect domestic industries from foreign competitors and create an equal playing field for businesses in accordance with international practices, said Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of the World Trade Centre at the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), which co-organised the conference with the Viet Nam Competition Authority (VCA).

Anti-dumping tariffs are a legal measure allowed by the WTO to deal with dumped imports. In other countries, enterprises use them as a business strategy when they face unfair competition from foreign firms, explained Trang.

Nguyen Van Sua, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Steel Association (VSA), said at the conference that many Vietnamese exports, primarily steel, were the target of anti-dumping tariffs. Thus, the recent move was a sign that Vietnamese firms had started to use the measure proactively to protect the domestic industry from the fierce competitiveness of foreign companies.

The tariff imposition also created confidence among domestic enterprises and encouraged them to follow suit, Sua added.

In the ten years since the Standing Committee of Viet Nam National Assembly’s ordination on anti-dumping against imports to Viet Nam took effect, Viet Nam has dealt with about 100 commercial lawsuits from foreign enterprises as a respondent, including 50 anti-dumping lawsuits. However, this is the first time Viet Nam has been the prosecutor.

This revealed that many domestic enterprises remained unconcerned with the measures. Relevant enterprises were not well-prepared and faced difficulties such as a lack of human resources and language barriers, according to Pham Chau Giang from the VCA.

“When we informed relevant agencies and enterprises to register to access documents, many did not do. They only asked about the documents when the tariff imposition was decided, but it was too late,” she said.

Dam Quang Hung, deputy director of the Son Ha International Joint Stock Company, expressed worry that the tariff imposition could cause disadvantages for steel-importing firms and buyers, as many domestic steel producers had started to increase prices.

In response, Dau Anh Tuan, head of the VCCI legislation board, said the tariff would benefit the economy and consumers in the long term. Foreign enterprises might have low prices now, but they could increase them later after wiping out domestic producers.

(VNS)