The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) informed on August 29 that it had adopted the Panel and Appellate Body (PAB) reports, which found that the People’s Republic of China’s export restrictions on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum were in breach of China’s WTO obligations and not justified under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) exceptions.

The US, Japan and the European Union (EU) welcomed the PAB reports. According to the WTO, the co-complainants welcomed the finding that the imposition of export duties was contrary to China’s Accession Protocol and that such export duties could not be justified under Article XX (general exceptions) of the GATT, which was signed in 1994.

The WTO indicated that the US regretted that this was the second dispute brought to address China’s export restraints on the industrial raw material inputs. According to the US, all WTO members were bound together through a global interdependence in the trade of raw materials. In that regard, China’s implementation of the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in these disputes would benefit all members and would contribute to global growth and prosperity.

The WTO said that Japan had serious concerns with China’s export restrictions, which, in effect, give preferential treatment to domestic industries under the guise of environmental protection or natural resources conservation. Japan says it was pleased with the Appellate Body’s clear ruling that such restrictions cannot be justified and hopes that this will contribute to the stabilisation of global trade in natural resources and energy and restrain the proliferation of protectionism in some resource-endowed countries. The EU’s view is that the restrictions imposed by China do not genuinely promote the objectives of conservation and environmental protection.

According to the WTO, China said it found it unfortunate that the PAB had failed to clarify the precise legal status of the accession commitments undertaken by acceding members but welcomed the PAB’s finding that the availability of exception provisions for violations of accession commitments must be conducted on a case-by-case basis. China said it reserved its right to invoke such exceptions in any future disputes about its accession commitments.

Jordan Paper Safeguards Investigation
The WTO gave notice on September 1 of Jordan’s notification, in accordance with the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, of its initiation of a safeguards investigation on ‘writing and printing paper, size A4’, classifiable under tariff subheading 4802.563 of the Jordanian harmonised tariff system.
The deadlines for the identification of the interested parties providing written statements, information, and so on, are September 18 and October 27 respectively.

South Africa has not exported ‘writing and printing paper, size A4’ to Jordan since January 2010.

Cement Dumping
The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) has informed of the initiation of an investigation into the alleged dumping of Portland cement, classifiable under tariff subheading 2523.29, originating in or imported from Pakistan, on the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) market, causing material injury to the Sacu cement industry. The application was lodged by AfriSam South Africa, Lafarge Industries South Africa, NPC Cimpor and PPC, which submitted sufficient evidence and established a prima facie case to enable Itac to arrive at the conclusion that an investigation should be initiated on the basis of dumping, material injury and/or threat of material injury and causality.

Comment is due by October 2.

Caustic Soda Investigation
Itac has informed of the proposed creation of a rebate provision on sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) in aqueous solution (soda lye or liquid soda), classifiable in tariff subheading 2815.12, for use in the manufacture of sodium hypochlorite solution, classifiable in tariff subheading 2828.90.
The application was lodged by NCP Chlorchem, which stated that the product in question is not manufactured in sufficient quantities in the Sacu market.

Comment is due by September 19.

Plastic Bag Tariff
On August 14, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) extended the period to comment on the draft notices proposing amendments in relation to plastic bags in Part 1 (ordinary customs duty) and Part 3A (environmental levy) of Schedule No 1 of the Customs and Excise Act. Comment is now due by September 12.

According to Sars, these drafts propose to amend the scope of plastic carrier bags and plastic flat bags subject to the environmental levy by including bags made of any thermoplastics material and to remove the current printing requirements.

Nuclear Vessel Licence Application
On August 22, notice was given of Eskom’s application for a nuclear vessel licence in terms of the National Nuclear Regulator Act 47 of 1999. The application was made to enable a non-nuclear-powered vessel to dock in the Cape Town harbour over the period November 2014 to December 2014, for the purposes of transporting nuclear fuel destined for the Koeberg nuclear power station.
Comment is due by September 22.

Trade Mission Invitations
The Department of Trade and Industry has extended an invitation to those interested in taking part in a trade and investment mission to Kenya and Tanzania from February 16 to 20, 2015, and Uganda from November 11 to 14.

The objective of the missions is to increase trade and investment between the countries. The closing date for the applications for the mission to Kenya and Tanzania is September 30 and for the Uganda mission is September 14.