A. GENERAL POLICY QUESTIONS
19. PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) IMPOSING DEFINITIVE
ANTI-DUMPING DUTY ON IMPORTS OF FARMED ATLANTIC SALMON FROM NORWAY
(10392/97) AND COUNTERVAILING DUTY ON IMPORTS OF FARMED ATLANTIC
SALMON ORIGINATING FROM NORWAY (10420/97)
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee,
to Lord Clinton-Davis, Minister for Trade, Department for Trade
and Industry
At a meeting on Wednesday of last week, Sub-Committee D of
the European Communities Committee considered the above proposals.
Your explanatory memoranda state that duties are to be imposed
on those Norwegian salmon exporters who have not offered satisfactory
undertakings. The Sub-Committee would be grateful to know how
the levels of those duties were arrived at, and what Her Majesty's
Government's opinion about them is, in particular whether they
are sufficient to achieve the desired objective. The Sub-Committee
is concerned that the unfair damage to Scottish farmers is ended
without unduly affecting the single market. In the meantime, the
scrutiny reserve is maintained.
At a later date, the Sub-Committee would be grateful for
a report on the effect of these regulations.
10 November 1997
Letter from Lord Clinton-Davis, Minister for Trade,
Department of Trade and Industry to Lord Tordoff, Chairman of
the Committee
Thank you for your letter of 10 November about Explanatory
Memoranda 10392/97 and 10420/97 on proposals for definitive anti-dumping
and countervailing duties on farmed Atlantic salmon originating
in Norway, following separate, but parallel anti-dumping and anti-subsidy
investigations by the European Commission.
You ask how the levels of duties to be applied to Norwegian
exporters who have not offered undertakings were arrived at. In
the case of the anti-dumping duties, the European Commission calculated
the margin at which a sample of six Norwegian exporters were dumping
in the normal way, by comparing the normal value" (the prices
of their own domestic sales) with the prices of their exports
in the Community. They then calculated the level of injury being
caused by that dumping. The duty rates were then set taking into
account the so-called lesser duty rule", ie at the dumping
margin or the injury level, whichever was lower; thus, the duties
were set at the dumping margins for three of the sampled exporters
and at the injury level for the other three. The level of the
anti-dumping duty for exporters outside the sample was similarly
established by calculating the weighted average of the lower of
the dumping margins and the injury levels on a company-by-company
basis.
In the case of the countervailing duties, the Commission
found in their anti-subsidy investigation that five publicly funded
schemes in Norway conferred countervailable subsidies on Norwegian
salmon producers. The total amount of the subsidies was calculated
by the Commission, on an ad valorem basis, at 3.8 per cent, and
the countervailing duty was set at that level.
It is important to bear in mind that this solution to the
problems of dumping and subsidisation, ie price undertakings underpinned
by these duties, was a notable achievement by the Commission.
This is because there was considerable opposition by other member
states to the Commission's original proposal simply to impose
a range of anti-dumping and countervailing duties. A number of
member states were uneasy about the notion of such formal measures
being imposed on a fellow member of the European Economic Area.
Against this background, although we have some misgivings about
some of the arrangements, eg the level at which the MIP was eventually
agreed, the undertakings represented the only solution which was
likely to command the support of member states.
The key to the effectiveness of the undertakings will of
course be rigorous monitoring of them, and my officials and their
colleagues in the Scottish Office will be keeping this under review.
As part of the ongoing monitoring arrangements, the Commission
will be holding regular review meetings with the Scottish Office
and industry. The first such meeting took place last month. I
am pleased to tell you, moreover, that the Commission have invested
a good deal of resources in setting up a dedicated task force
to deal with this issue: I believe this is a very reassuring indication
of their commitment to making the solution work.
I have noted the Sub-Committee's request on the effect of
these Regulations, and propose to produce one before the 1998
summer recess.
26 November 1997
Letter from Lord Tordoff, Chairman of the Committee,
to Lord Clinton-Davis, Minister for Trade, Department of Trade
and Industry
Thank you for your helpful reply to my letter of 10 November.
This Wednesday, Sub-Committee D reconsidered the above documents
in the light of the additional information which your letter supplied
and lifted the scrutiny reserve.
11 December 1997
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