./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/ADP/Q1/PAN/3
G/SCM/Q1/PAN/3
22 October 1998
(98-4108)
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices
Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  Spanish
NOTIFICATION OF LAWS AND REGULATIONS UNDER
ARTICLES 18.5 AND 32.6 OF THE AGREEMENTS
Question Posed by Venezuela
Regarding the Notification of Panama1
The following communication, dated 5 October 1998, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Venezuela.
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QUESTIONS FROM VENEZUELA TO PANAMA
1. Article 5.5 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement provides that:  "… after receipt of a properly
documented application and before proceeding to init iate an investigation, the authority shall notify
the government of the exporting Member concerned".
Panama's legislation does not provide for notification of the government of the exporting
Member before initiation of the investigation.  Would Panama please indicate whether the
investigating authority will notify the government of the exporting Member concerned after receiving
a properly documented application and before initiating an investigation, in accordance with
Article 5.5 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement?
2. Article 7.4 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement provides that provisional anti-dumping duties
may be imposed for a period not exceeding six months, only upon request by exporters representing a
significant percentage of the trade involved, or for a longer period when the authorities examine
whether a duty lower than the margin of dumping would be sufficient to remove injury.
Article 160 of the Panamanian legislation provides that the amount of the guarantee shall not
exceed the subsidy or margin of dumping provisionally calculated, and the duration of the provisional
measure should not exceed four months in the case of subsidies, and six months in the case of
dumping.
Would Panama please indicate how the possibility of establishing provisional anti-dumping
duties for a six-month period under Article 160 of Panama's legislation is consistent with the rule laid
down in Article 7.4 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement?
                                                     
1 G/ADP/N/1/PAN/1-G/SCM/N/1/PAN/1G/ADP/Q1/PAN/3
G/SCM/Q1/PAN/3
Page 2
3. Article 163 of Panama's legislation provides as follows:  "Definitive countervailing duties
may be imposed on products put up for sale within a period not exceeding ninety (90) days prior to
the date of the application of the provisional meas ures provided that it has been determined that:
(1) there has been injury that is difficult to repair as a result of intermittent massive imports ofproducts involving unfair business practices in a relatively short time;  (2) that retroactive application
of such definitive duties is necessary to prevent a repetition of the injury.
Would Panama please explain how the above-me ntioned provision is consistent with the
corresponding rule in the WTO Agreements?
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