Trade Protection: Morocco Finally Has a National Law
1 October 2009
Read by 3174 persons
Until now, safeguard measures were governed by the agreements of the World Trade Organization.
An import surveillance commission composed of representatives of the administration as well as professional organizations and associations will be set up.
The national legal arsenal aimed at strengthening the transparency of trade in Morocco is in the process of being strengthened. A draft law on trade defense measures was examined on Thursday, September 17, by the government council. Once this text is adopted, at the end of the legislative process, Morocco will be equipped, for the first time, with a legal framework "establishing and exhaustively defining the rules and procedures governing the application of anti-dumping measures in the event of dumping imports, compensatory measures in the event of imports of products that have benefited from subsidies, and safeguard measures in the event of a massive increase in imports".
The draft law also provides for the establishment of an import surveillance commission which will be responsible for advising the Ministry of Foreign Trade on all matters relating to the implementation of trade defense measures. It will be composed of representatives of the administration and members of professional organizations and associations.
The novelty of this draft law lies in the fact that it will transpose the provisions contained in the agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) into national law. Until now, the rules for applying corrective measures, namely anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures (anti-subsidies) and safeguard measures were governed by the WTO agreements. Whereas most countries, particularly Morocco's main trading partners, have national legislation regulating these provisions.
A law existed since 1992 but it was too vague
Result: each time national operators resort to the State to report cases of malfunction related to this type of practice (dumping and subsidies resulting in unfair competition) and request intervention from the public authorities (safeguard measures among others), the department concerned, in this case the Ministry of Foreign Trade, referred to the provisions of the WTO agreements to decide, in the absence of national legislation in this area.
A law had been put in place in November 1992 (Law 13/89 relating to foreign trade) supplemented by Decree 2-93-415 (in July 1993) in order to fill the legal void that characterized the regulation of this type of case. But these texts only defined the basic principle. "It essentially indicates that corrective measures must be adopted in cases where dumping practices and massive imports are found to endanger competing domestic production, but texts explaining how these provisions will be applied concretely have never been put in place", stresses an authorized official within the foreign trade department.
Indeed, Law 13/89 only stipulates that "when imports cause or threaten to cause serious injury to an established domestic production or significantly delay the creation of a domestic production, they may be subject to a countervailing duty (…), an anti-dumping duty (…), tariff or non-tariff measures if a massive increase in imports is found (…) ". It does not actually define the nature of the measures planned to deal with these practices.
More flexibility in the application of retaliatory measures
This is why the purpose of the draft law is to remedy this "legal inadequacy, by establishing a complete, modern legislative and regulatory framework compatible with the commitments undertaken under the WTO agreements and other trade agreements concluded by Morocco", explains the Ministry of Foreign Trade. The drafters of the text thus define clear and precise instruments both for the measures provided for in this type of case and for the criteria on the basis of which they are used. The draft law "provides for provisions setting out the conditions for determining the existence of dumping, subsidies, massive increases in imports and damage or the threat of damage, as well as the procedures for implementing anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures and safeguard measures", indicates the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 38 articles, the text explains in detail the provisions for all cases and situations that may be exposed and identified.
In addition, the new legislation has scheduled provisions relating to certain situations such as price commitments that may be offered by exporters or requested by the Ministry responsible for foreign trade. Also, "a product that is the subject of dumping or subsidies may not be subject to an anti-dumping duty or a countervailing duty if the exporter undertakes to revise its price sufficiently to remedy the damage", stresses the ministry.
This system has the advantage of facilitating the procedure for both the administration and the operators. Resorting to the provisions of the WTO agreements when the ministry decided to open an inquiry concerning any request hindered (and still hinders) the supervisory administration. "Operators often did not understand why an international system was used to decide on internal matters", stresses an official at the ministry. And adds that "referencing national law will thus facilitate the task for everyone".
The implementation of this new legislation does not, however, mean the end of the ordinary process of implementing safeguard measures. In this regard, the ministry recalls that "the procedure begins with the filing with the foreign trade department of a request by the branch of domestic production concerned or on its behalf". The method of processing files will also not change since the request is then subject to "a preliminary examination which determines the decision to open a request (and), at the same time, the import of the product subject to the request may be subject to an import surveillance procedure". If the ministry determines the existence of dumping, a subsidy, a massive increase in imports or damage caused to the domestic production branch of the product similar to the imported product, definitive measures may then be applied.
Hakim Challot
Published on September 28, 2009
Posted online on October 1, 2009
lavieeco.com
An import surveillance commission composed of representatives of the administration as well as professional organizations and associations will be set up.
The national legal arsenal aimed at strengthening the transparency of trade in Morocco is in the process of being strengthened. A draft law on trade defense measures was examined on Thursday, September 17, by the government council. Once this text is adopted, at the end of the legislative process, Morocco will be equipped, for the first time, with a legal framework "establishing and exhaustively defining the rules and procedures governing the application of anti-dumping measures in the event of dumping imports, compensatory measures in the event of imports of products that have benefited from subsidies, and safeguard measures in the event of a massive increase in imports".
The draft law also provides for the establishment of an import surveillance commission which will be responsible for advising the Ministry of Foreign Trade on all matters relating to the implementation of trade defense measures. It will be composed of representatives of the administration and members of professional organizations and associations.
The novelty of this draft law lies in the fact that it will transpose the provisions contained in the agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) into national law. Until now, the rules for applying corrective measures, namely anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures (anti-subsidies) and safeguard measures were governed by the WTO agreements. Whereas most countries, particularly Morocco's main trading partners, have national legislation regulating these provisions.
A law existed since 1992 but it was too vague
Result: each time national operators resort to the State to report cases of malfunction related to this type of practice (dumping and subsidies resulting in unfair competition) and request intervention from the public authorities (safeguard measures among others), the department concerned, in this case the Ministry of Foreign Trade, referred to the provisions of the WTO agreements to decide, in the absence of national legislation in this area.
A law had been put in place in November 1992 (Law 13/89 relating to foreign trade) supplemented by Decree 2-93-415 (in July 1993) in order to fill the legal void that characterized the regulation of this type of case. But these texts only defined the basic principle. "It essentially indicates that corrective measures must be adopted in cases where dumping practices and massive imports are found to endanger competing domestic production, but texts explaining how these provisions will be applied concretely have never been put in place", stresses an authorized official within the foreign trade department.
Indeed, Law 13/89 only stipulates that "when imports cause or threaten to cause serious injury to an established domestic production or significantly delay the creation of a domestic production, they may be subject to a countervailing duty (…), an anti-dumping duty (…), tariff or non-tariff measures if a massive increase in imports is found (…) ". It does not actually define the nature of the measures planned to deal with these practices.
More flexibility in the application of retaliatory measures
This is why the purpose of the draft law is to remedy this "legal inadequacy, by establishing a complete, modern legislative and regulatory framework compatible with the commitments undertaken under the WTO agreements and other trade agreements concluded by Morocco", explains the Ministry of Foreign Trade. The drafters of the text thus define clear and precise instruments both for the measures provided for in this type of case and for the criteria on the basis of which they are used. The draft law "provides for provisions setting out the conditions for determining the existence of dumping, subsidies, massive increases in imports and damage or the threat of damage, as well as the procedures for implementing anti-dumping measures, countervailing measures and safeguard measures", indicates the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 38 articles, the text explains in detail the provisions for all cases and situations that may be exposed and identified.
In addition, the new legislation has scheduled provisions relating to certain situations such as price commitments that may be offered by exporters or requested by the Ministry responsible for foreign trade. Also, "a product that is the subject of dumping or subsidies may not be subject to an anti-dumping duty or a countervailing duty if the exporter undertakes to revise its price sufficiently to remedy the damage", stresses the ministry.
This system has the advantage of facilitating the procedure for both the administration and the operators. Resorting to the provisions of the WTO agreements when the ministry decided to open an inquiry concerning any request hindered (and still hinders) the supervisory administration. "Operators often did not understand why an international system was used to decide on internal matters", stresses an official at the ministry. And adds that "referencing national law will thus facilitate the task for everyone".
The implementation of this new legislation does not, however, mean the end of the ordinary process of implementing safeguard measures. In this regard, the ministry recalls that "the procedure begins with the filing with the foreign trade department of a request by the branch of domestic production concerned or on its behalf". The method of processing files will also not change since the request is then subject to "a preliminary examination which determines the decision to open a request (and), at the same time, the import of the product subject to the request may be subject to an import surveillance procedure". If the ministry determines the existence of dumping, a subsidy, a massive increase in imports or damage caused to the domestic production branch of the product similar to the imported product, definitive measures may then be applied.
Hakim Challot
Published on September 28, 2009
Posted online on October 1, 2009
lavieeco.com
