WTO案例9英文

9．United States — Countervailing Duty Measures on Certain Products from China美国对中国某些产品征收反补贴税Current statusReport(s) adopted, with recommendation to bring measure(s) into conformity on 16 January 2015Key factsShort title: US — Countervailing Measures(China)Complainant（原告）:ChinaRespondent（被告）: United StatesThird Parties: 第三方Australia; Brazil; Canada; European Union; India; Japan; Korea, Republic of; Norway; Russian Federation; Turkey; Viet Nam; Saudi Arabia, Kingdom ofAgreements cited: (as cited in request for consultations)Subsidies and Countervailing Measures: Art. 1.1, 1.1(a)(1), 1.1(b), 2, 10, 11, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 12.7,14(d), 30, 32.1GATT 1994: Art. VI, XXIIIProtocol of Accession: Art. 15Request forConsultationsreceived:25 May 2012Panel Reportcirculated（发行）:14 July 2014Appellate BodyReport circulated（上诉主体的报告时间）:18 December 2014 Summary of the dispute to dateThe summary below was up-to-date at 3 November 2015ConsultationsComplaint by China.On 25 May 2012, China requested consultations with the United States concerning the imposition（征收） of countervailing duty measures by the United States on certain products from China.China challenges various aspects of certain identified countervailing duty investigations, including their opening, conduct and the preliminary and final determinations that led to the imposition of countervailing duties. China also challenges the “rebuttable presumption”（可辨驳的假设） allegedly established and applied by the US Department of Commerce（美国商务部） that majority government ownership is sufficient to treat an enterprise as a “public body”.China claims that the challenge measures are inconsistent with: ∙Article VI of the GATT 1994;∙Articles 1.1, 2, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 12.7 and 14(d) of the SCM Agreement; and∙Article 15 of the Protocol of Accession of China.中国入市协定On 20 August 2012, China requested the establishment of a panel. At its meeting on 31 August 2012, the DSB deferred the establishment of a panel.Article;1Articles1.1，2，11.1，11.2，11.3，12.7114 SCM协议（D）; 和Article中国的入世议定书的15。

Panel and Appellate Body proceedingsAt its meeting on 28 September 2012, the DSB established apanel. Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Norway, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Viet Nam reserved their third party rights. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia reserved its third party rights.On 14 November 2012, China requested the Director-General to determine the composition of the panel. On 26 November 2012, the Director-General composed the panel. On 29 April 2013, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that the timetable adopted by the panel after consultations with the parties envisaged that the final report would be issued to the parties by January 2014. On 18 November 2013, the Chair of the panel informed the DSB that due to the complexity of the issues raised by the parties in this dispute, the panel expected to conclude its work in May 2014.On 14 July 2014, the panel report was circulated to Members.Summary of key findingsThe dispute concerns several initiation decisions, as well as preliminary and final determinations in 17 countervailing duty investigations conducted by the United States' Department of Commerce (USDOC) from 2007 through 2012. The Chinese products concerned by these investigations consist of solar panels; wind towers; thermal paper; coated paper; tow behind lawn groomers; kitchen shelving; steel sinks; citric acid; magnesia carbon bricks; pressure pipe; line pipe; seamless pipe; steel cylinders; drill pipe; oil country tubular goods; wire strand; and aluminum extrusions.China requested the Panel to find that the United States' investigating authority, the USDOC, acted inconsistently with the following obligations set forth in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement) when initiating countervailing duty investigations, and making preliminary and final determinations in these investigations:a.In connection with the alleged provision of input goods for lessthan adequate remuneration:i.That the USDOC's findings of financial contribution areinconsistent with Article 1.1(a)(1) of the SCM Agreement,because the USDOC incorrectly determined, or did not have asufficient basis to determine, that certain State-ownedenterprises (SOEs) are “public bodies”within the meaningof that provision in certain investigations;ii.That the “rebuttable presumption” established and applied by the USDOC in respect of whether SOEs can be classified as“public bodies” is, as such, inconsistent with Article1.1(a)(1) of the SCM Agreement;iii.That the USDOC's initiation of countervailing dutyinvestigations in respect of allegations that SOEs confercountervailable subsidies through their sales of inputs todownstream producers, in the absence of sufficient evidencein the petition to support an allegation that SOEs constitute“public bodies” within the meaning of Article 1.1(a)(1) ofthe SCM Agreement, and in the absence of a sufficient reviewof the petition by the USDOC in respect of this allegation,is inconsistent with Articles 11.2 and 11.3 of the SCMAgreement in certain investigations;iv.That the USDOC's findings of benefit are inconsistent with Article 1.1(b) and Article 14(d) of the SCM Agreement,because the USDOC improperly found that the alleged provisionof goods for less than adequate remuneration conferred abenefit upon the recipient, and improperly calculated theamount of any benefit allegedly conferred, including, interalia, its erroneous findings that prevailing marketconditions in China were “distorted” as the basis forrejecting actual transaction prices in China as benchmarksin certain investigations;v.That the USDOC's findings of specificity are inconsistent with Articles 2.1 and 2.4 of the SCM Agreement, because theUSDOC failed to make a proper determination on the basis ofpositive evidence that the alleged provision of inputs forless than adequate remuneration was specific to an enterpriseor industry or group of enterprises or industries in certaininvestigations;vi.That the USDOC's initiation of countervailing duty investigations in respect of the alleged provision of inputsfor less than adequate remuneration, in the absence ofsufficient evidence in the petition to support an allegationthat any such subsidy would be specific under Article 2 ofthe SCM Agreement, and in the absence of a sufficient reviewof the petition by the USDOC in respect of this allegation,is inconsistent with Articles 11.2 and 11.3 of the SCMAgreement in certain investigations.b.In connection with all of the identified countervailing dutyinvestigations in which the USDOC has issued a preliminary or final countervailing duty determination:i.That the USDOC's use of so-called “adverse facts available”to support its findings of financial contribution,specificity, and benefit is inconsistent with Article 12.7of the SCM Agreement in certain instances because the USDOCdid not rely on facts available on the record.c.In connection with the alleged provision of land and land-use rightsfor less than adequate remuneration:i.That the USDOC's findings of specificity are inconsistentwith Articles 2.2 and 2.4 of the SCM Agreement, because theUSDOC failed to make a proper determination on the basis ofpositive evidence that the alleged subsidy was specific toan enterprise or industry or to a group of enterprises orindustries in certain land specificity investigations.d.In connection with export restraints allegedly maintained by China:i.That the USDOC's initiation of countervailing dutyinvestigations in respect of these allegations isinconsistent with Articles 11.2 and 11.3 of the SCM Agreementin certain investigations;ii.That the USDOC's determination that export restraints provided a “financial contribution” is inconsistent withArticle 1.1(a) of the SCM Agreement in certaininvestigations.The United States requested that the Panel reject China's claims in this dispute. It also requested that the Panel to disregard China's claims pertaining to the preliminary determinations in Wind Towers and Steel Sinks. According to the United States, as China did not request consultations on these determinations, such determinations should be outside the terms of reference of this panel proceeding.Regarding China's claims made on an “as applied” basis, the Panel upheld China's claims against the USDOC's findings (i) that certain Chinese State-owned enterprises were public bodies within the meaning of Article 1.1(a)(1) of the SCM Agreement, capable of providing financial contributions; (ii) that alleged subsidies were regionally specific; and (iii) on the existence of financial contributions in light of export restraints maintained by China. The Panel partially rejected China's claims against the USDOC's findings that alleged subsidies were specific to certain enterprises. The Panel rejected China's claims against the USDOC's findings (i) that there was “market distortion” justifying the use of an out-of-country benchmark in the benefit calculation; (ii) that there was sufficient evidence of financial contributions by public bodies and of specificity to justify the initiation of countervailing duty investigations; and (iii) on the use of “adverse facts available”.Regarding China's claims made on an “as such” basis, the Panel upheld China's claim challenging the USDOC's “rebuttable presumption” that majority State-owned enterprises are public bodies within the meaning of Article 1.1(a)(1) of the SCM Agreement, and thus capable of conferring a financial contribution.As a consequence of the inconsistencies of the USDOC's actions with Articles 1, 2 and 11 of the SCM Agreement, the United States has acted inconsistently with Articles 10 and 32.1 of the SCM Agreement.The Panel concluded that, to the extent that the measures at issue are inconsistent with certain provisions of the SCM Agreement, they have nullified or impaired benefits accruing to China under that agreement. Pursuant to Article 19.1 of the DSU, the Panel recommended that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations under the SCM Agreement.The Panel found the preliminary determinations in Wind Towers and Steel Sinks not to be within its terms of reference.On 22 August 2014, China filed an appeal covering most of the issues on which the Panel did not rule in its favour. On 27 August 2014, the United States filed a cross-appeal of the Panel's preliminary determination relating to the consistency of one section of China's panel request with Article 6.2 of the DSU. The United States did not appeal the Panel's finding that the USDOC's application of a “rebuttable presumption” to determine whether certain entities can be characterized as “public bodies”was inconsistent “as such” with Article 1.1(a)(1) of the SCM Agreement. Nor did the United States challenge on appeal the Panel's finding that the “public body” determinations made by the USDOC in 14 countervailing duty investigations were inconsistent with the same provision1 , or the Panel's findings regarding the USDOC's treatment of certain export restraints in two of the investigations at issue.On 18 December 2014, the Appellate Body report was circulated to Members.Summary of key findingsTerms of reference: In its other appeal, the United States claimed that the Panel erred in concluding that China's panel request, as it relates to China's facts available claims under Article 12.7 of the SCM Agreement, was consistent with Article 6.2 of the DSU.The Appellate Body considered it to be clear from China's panelrequest that China was challenging all instances where the USDOC used “facts available” across the 22 measures at issue listed in China's panel request. The Appellate Body also disagreed with the United States that Article 12.7 of the SCM Agreement contained multiple, distinct obligations. The Appellate Body thereforerejected the United States' appeal and upheld the Panel'sconclusion, finding that China's panel request, as it relates to China's facts available claims under Article 12.7, provided a“brief summary of the legal basis of the complaint sufficient to present the problem clearly”, as required under Article 6.2.Determination of benefit: With respect to the issues raised by China on appeal, the Appellate Body reversed the Panel's findingupholding the USDOC's rejection of private prices as potential benchmarks in the investigations at issue on the grounds that such prices were distorted. The Appellate Body also reversed the Panel's finding that China failed to establish that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the obligations of the United States under Articles 14(d) and 1.1(b) of the SCM Agreement in respect of the benefit analysis in the OCTG, Solar Panels, Pressure Pipe, and Line Pipe investigations, and found, instead, that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the United States' obligations underArticles 14(d) and 1.1(b) of the SCM Agreement by rejecting prices in China as benchmarks in its benefit analyses in these four countervailing duty investigations. While the Appellate Body agreed with China that there is a single definition of the term “government” for purposes of the SCM Agreement, it observed that it does not follow that, in determining the appropriate benefit benchmark under Article 14(d), investigating authorities are required to limit their analysis to an examination of the role played in the market by government-related entities that have been properly found to be government in the narrow sense or public bodies. However, because the issue of whether a price may be relied upon for benchmarking purposes under Article 14(d) is not a function of its source, but rather, whether it is a market-determined price reflective of prevailing market conditions in the country of provision, the Appellate Body stated that the selection of a benchmark for the purposes of Article 14(d) cannot, at the outset, exclude consideration of in-country prices from any particular source, including government-related prices other than the financial contribution at issue. The Appellate Body explained that a finding of inconsistency with Article 14(d) depends on whether the investigating authority conducted the necessary market analysis in order to evaluate whether the proposed benchmark prices are market determined such that they can be used to assess whether the relevant goods have been provided for less than adequate remuneration.Sequence of the specificity analysis under the subparagraphs of Article 2.1: The Appellate Body upheld the Panel's finding that China did not establish that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the obligations of the United States under Article 2.1 of the SCM Agreement by analysing specificity exclusively underArticle 2.1(c). Whereas the specificity analysis under each subparagraph of Article 2.1 should “ordinarily” proceed in a certain sequence, the Appellate Body did not exclude the possibility that, in certain circumstances, an investigating authority could properly conduct the specificity analysis withoutexamining the subparagraphs of Article 2.1 in a strict sequential order. The Appellate Body found that the application of theprinciples laid down in subparagraphs (a) and (b) does notnecessarily constitute a condition that must be met in order to consider the factors listed under subparagraph (c). Recalling that “there may be instances in which the evidence underconsideration unequivocally indicates specificity ornon-specificity by reason of law, or by reason of fact, under one of the subparagraphs, and that in such circumstancesfurtherconsideration under the other subparagraphs of Article 2.1 may be unnecessary”, the Appellate Body disagreed with China that the first sentence of Article 2.1(c) conditions the assessment of de facto specificity on the basis of the factors listed under that subparagraph upon an application of the principles set out in subparagraphs (a) and (b). The Appellate Body further noted that China had not pointed to any evidence that was before the USDOC of the kind that would ordinarily be examined in determining de jure specificity under subparagraphs (a) and (b).Existence of an unwritten subsidy programme: The Appellate Body reversed the Panel's finding that China had not established that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the obligations of theUnited States under Article 2.1 by failing to identify a“subsidy programme”. The Appellate Body noted that the reference to “use of a subsidy programme” in Article 2.1 suggests that it is relevant to consider whether subsidies have been provided to recipients pursuant to a plan or scheme. The Appellate Body also found that the existence of an unwritten subsidy scheme or plan may be evidenced by, inter alia, a systematic series of actions pursuant to which financial contributions have been provided to certain enterprises. The Appellate Body found, however, that the Panel did not apply Article 2.1(c), as properly interpreted, because it failed to provide any case-specific discussion or references to the particular USDOC determinations of specificity challenged by China on an “as applied” basis. As a consequence, the Appellate Body reversed the Panel's finding and was unable to complete theanalysis.Identification of the jurisdiction of the granting authority: The Appellate Body also reversed the Panel's finding that China had not established that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the obligations of the United States under Article 2.1 by failing to identify a “granting authority” in each of the specificity determinations at issue. The Appellate Body considered that the identification of the “jurisdiction of the granting authority”involves a holistic analysis and does not focus on the identity of the “granting authority” independently from its “jurisdiction”. The Appellate Body therefore disagreed with China that identification of the jurisdiction must necessarily be preceded by identification of the granting authority. Noting that the notion of jurisdiction is linked to, and does not exist in isolation from, the granting authority, the Appellate Body observed that a proper identification of “the jurisdiction of the granting authority”will require an analysis of both the “granting authority” and its “jurisdiction” in a conjunctive manner. However, the Appellate Body found that the Panel had conducted an extremely cursory analysis in rejecting China's claims on the basis that it appeared “that the relevant jurisdiction was at the very least implicitly understood to be China in the challenged investigations”. Consequently, the Appellate Body reversed the Panel's finding and was unable to complete the analysis.Use of facts available: The Appellate Body found that the Panel acted inconsistently with its obligations under Article 11 of the DSU in assessing China's claims under Article 12.7 of theSCM Agreement. The Appellate Body reversed the Panel's finding that China had not established that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the United States' obligations under Article 12.7 of the SCM Agreement by not relying on facts on the record in 42 “adverse”facts available determinations across the 13 investigations challenged by China. The Appellate Body recalled that Article 12.7 requires that an investigating authority must use those facts available that reasonably replace the missing “necessary”information that an interested party failed to provide. The Appellate Body also reiterated that ascertaining reasonable replacements for the missing information involves a process of reasoning and evaluation on the part of the investigating authority, although the evaluation that is required, and the form it may take, depend on the particular circumstances of a given case, including the nature, quality and amount of the evidence on the record and the particular determinations to be made. With respect to China's claim of error under Article 11 of the DSU, the Appellate Body found that the Panel failed to address each of the 42 instances of the USDOC's use of “adverse” facts available challenged by China. Moreover, the Appellate Body found that, in respect of the instances of the use of “adverse” facts available by the USDOC that the Panel did discuss in its Report, the Panel focused on the language and formulations used by the USDOC in its determinations, without undertaking a critical and in-depth examination of the USDOC's statements to assess whether the USDOC complied with Article 12.7of the SCM Agreement. For these reasons, the Appellate Bodyreversed the Panel's finding that China failed to establish that the USDOC acted inconsistently with the United States' obligations under Article 12.7. Having reversed the Panel's conclusion, the Appellate Body did not complete the legal analysis, noting that completion in the present case would be of limited value inresolving the dispute and would also raise due process concerns.At its meeting on 16 January 2015, the DSB adopted the Appellate Body report and the panel report, as modified by the Appellate Body report.Reasonable period of timeOn 13 February 2015, the United States informed the DSB that it intended to implement the DSB's recommendations and rulings in a manner that respects its WTO obligations, and that it would need a reasonable period of time to do so. On 26 June 2015, China requested that the reasonable period of time be determined through binding arbitration pursuant to Article 21.3(c) of the DSU. On 9 July 2015, China requested the Director-General to appoint the arbitrator. On 17 July 2015, the Director-General appointed Mr Georges M. Abi-Saab to act as arbitrator under Article 21.3(c) of the DSU. On 22 July 2015, Mr Abi-Saab accepted this appointment.On 9 October 2015, the Award of the Arbitrator was circulated to Members. The Arbitrator determined the reasonable period of time as 14 months, 16 days. The reasonable period of time will thus expire on 1 April 2016.。