For open international trade to bring about global welfare gains it is essential that it be conducted on a level playing field between domestic and foreign producers. Two situations in which such a level playing field arguably does not exist are imports of subsidised or dumped goods. In such cases, most importing economies protect their domestic industry through trade defence instruments, i.e. anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures.
In the European Union, the legal basis for these instruments is provided by the relevant WTO agreements which have been transposed into EU legislation by two Council Regulations on protection against dumped and subsidised imports from countries not members of the European Union.
Recently, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade has decided to evaluate the European Union's trade defence activities, specifically the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy instruments. The evaluation, which is being carried out by BKP Development, includes consultations of a wide range of stakeholders.
As part of the consultations an online survey was developed. The purpose of the survey is to collect the views of EU firms about trade defence instruments, and to learn about their experience with EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy instruments. Answering all questions will take about 15 to 20 minutes.
The survey will be open until 31 July 2011. Direct link to survey:
www.bkpdevelopment.com/index.php?option=com_bfsurvey_pro&view=sayg&catid=5&Itemid=87&lang=en