WTO members discussed safeguard measures, subsidies, countervailing measures and anti-dumping practices

The biannual meetings of the WTO Committees on Special Safeguard Measures, Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and Anti-Dumping Practices were held from 25 to 27 October 2023.

Notifications by WTO Members of new, amended or previously revised laws and regulations on special protective, countervailing and special safeguard measures, semi-annual notifications from 1 January to 30 June 2023, as well as notifications from previous years that were not reviewed, were considered during the meetings.

In general, WTO Members expressed concern about the continued growth of safeguard measures adopted and called on Members to strictly comply with the Agreement on Special Safeguard Measures, as well as to be committed to the principle of transparency with regard to subsidies and to commitments to publish subsidy notifications.

Thus, Kazakhstan has notified industrial subsidies for 2020 under Article 17.1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and Article 25 of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. There were no questions from WTO Members regarding our notification.

In addition, during the Committee on Antidumping Practices, the Russian side raised an issue regarding the use of «non-market methodologies» by the US and EU to calculate dumping margins for products originating in «non-market economies».

In addition, the Kazakh side during bilateral meetings expressed concern about the ongoing Indonesian anti-dumping investigation against hot-rolled steel originating in China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Taiwan and Thailand, as well as the European Commission's anti-dumping investigation against Kazakh birch plywood.

As part of the Indonesian investigation, a public hearing is scheduled for 31 October 2023 online.

The next meeting of the committees is scheduled for spring 2024.