. /.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/ADP/IG/W/34
10 April 2001
(01-1821)
Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices
Informal Group on Anti-CircumventionOriginal:  English
TOPIC 2 – WHAT IS BEING DONE BY MEMBERS CONFRONTED
BY WHAT THEY CONSIDER TO BE CIRCUMVENTION?
Replies to Follow-Up Questions from ISRAEL1 with Respect to
the UNITED STATES' Paper on Circumvention2
The following communication, dated 9 April 2001, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of the United States.
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Q1. How do DOC officials actually distinguish between cases that will be dealt with as scope
issues as opposed to anti-circumvention issues ?  Are there written criteria for distinguishing
between the two issues?
Reply
There are no written criteria under our regulations to distinguish scope inquiries from
anti-circumvention inquiries.   Scope-related questions can arise because the descriptions of the subject
merchandise contained in the Department’s determinations must be written in general terms.  By
contrast, circumvention issues involve changes made to an imported product or in the place where theimported product is assembled or completed.
The vast majority of scope and circumvention inquiries are initiated pursuant to applications.
Because the applicant must specify the statutory and regulatory provisions under which the
application is filed, and casts its information and arguments in reference to the specific provisionscited, the Department does not make the determination of whether the case will be dealt with as scope
or circumvention.
Q2.  Could actual examples  be given of scope issues as differentiated from
anti-circumvention issues?
Reply
The issues which arise under anticircumvention and scope inquiries often are very similar,
particularly when the product in question has undergone only a very minor alteration from the productoriginally investigated.  We have already presented examples of circumvention and scope inquiries in
our earlier paper: G/ADP/IG/W/20.
                                                     
1 G/ADP/IG/W/27.
2 G/ADP/IG/W/22.G/ADP/IG/W/34
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Q3. How often do injuries arise in scope inquiries?  Does the Commission often submit
written advice to the Secretary of the DOC in scope inquiries?
Reply
Because scope inquiries examine whether a particular imported product was included in the
investigation, by definition injury issues do not arise in scope inquiries.  During a scope inquiry, the
Department often examines the written determinations of the Commission to ensure that the product
in question was not excluded from the like product examined by the Commission in the investigation.
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