Changes sought in Anti-Dumping Law

Petrochemical manufacturers want to amend the newly-signed Anti-Dumping Law to remove the provisions that make it very costly for industries to file dumping cases and those that allow the Tariff Commission to rule against domestic industries even after proving cases of dumping.

In a letter to House Speaker Manuel B. Villar Jr., the Association of Petrochemical Manufacturers of the Philippines (APMP) complained that the new law would make it "well high impossible" for an anti-dumping complaint to be successfully prosecuted.

Even when proven, APMP said the law includes a provision that allows the waiver of the anti-dumping bond "in consideration of the general welfare of consumers and related industries."

APMP chairman Ricardo Guevara expressed apprehensions that the Tariff Commission would easily bow to public pressures "as it has done on the past," criticizing the agency for being "populist at the expense of industries."

Guevara said the insertion of such provision is uncalled for since the welfare of the general public and even related industries have specific remedies under the Flexible Tariff Cause of the Tariff and Customs Code.

Guevara also criticized another insertion in the law that requires complainants to post a surely bond refundable once the dumping case is proven. he said this is an unnecessary hurdle that will make the filing of cases more difficult and costly for industries already hurting from dumped goods.

"These provisions were never discussed during the previous committee hearings in either houses of Congress," Guevara said. "[These were added] in the last bicameral conference committee deliberation."

Guevara said Republic Act 8752 known as the Anti Dumping Law should be amended to remove "such questionable features."

The industry is still awaiting the ruling of the Tariff Commission on a pending anti-dumping case against South Korea. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has found prima facie evidence warranting the conduct a full-blown official investigation on this case.

The case was filed by the Gokongwei-owned JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. (JG Summit) and the petrochemicals Corp. of Asia-Pacific (Petrocorp) against Korean polypropylene manufacturers which have been charged of dumping petrochemicals into the country.

"The protest alleged that polypropylene resins are being imported from South Korea at dumped prices and that as a result causes material injury to the domestic industry producing the article," the DTI said.

Under the newly-enacted Anti-Dumping Law, Korea faces sanctions including dumping bonds on all its polypropylene exports to the country, but the imposition of these sanctions is not automatic and will depend on the discretion of the Tariff Commission.

The initial findings of the DTI indicated that resins from South Korea are being dumped into the country at $450 to $600 per ton. This is $111/ton less than their domestic price in Korea.

DTI said 38 percent of polypropylene resins from South Korea are being exported to the Philippines at dumped prices. Korea accounts for 56 percent of the country's total resin imports for 1998 which totaled 93,000 metric tons.