| MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--The World Trade Organization's
latest ruling in Mexico's sweetener dispute with the U.S. says
Mexico still has not fully complied with WTO rules in imposing
anti-dumping tariffs against high-fructose corn syrup imports,
a government trade source said Thursday.
The source, who is close to Mexico's top trade negotiator
Luis de la Calle, said that in its final ruling on the
four-year-old dispute, the WTO panel found Mexico did not
comply with "some minor issues" concerning
assessment of damage to local sugar producers.
WTO protocol requires that rulings be released to the
involved governments a week before releasing the report to the
public. A WTO official in Geneva has told Dow Jones Newswires
the latest report will be published June 22.
The initial WTO ruling on the sweetener dispute, released
in January 2000, said Mexico's initiation of the anti-dumping
investigations was in keeping with WTO rules, but that was not
the case with the methods it used to calculate damage.
At that time, the WTO did not order Mexico to halt the
anti-dumping order, but recommended that Mexico bring it
"into conformity" with its trade rules.
The trade source said Mexico does not agree on the panel's
latest observations, and is likely to appeal the ruling.
The dispute between Mexico's sugar industry and U.S. corn
refiners started in June 1997, when Mexico slapped stiff
preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of HFCS from the
U.S., following complaints by the Mexican Sugar and Alcohol
Chamber.
Mexico imposed final anti-dumping duties - ranging from
$55.37 to $175.50 per metric ton for different grades of HFCS
- in January 1998.
The U.S. Corn Refiners Association charged that Mexico was
setting up a protective barrier and acting against free trade
practices. It complained to the U.S. Trade Representative's
office, which took the case to the WTO.
Under WTO trade legislation, for a country to apply
anti-dumping duties it must prove that goods were exported at
prices below the local market price, and that the volume of
dumping is such that it causes injury to the local
"like-industry."
The WTO agreed dumping did occur in the HFCS case, but
ordered Mexico to revise the study which determined the size
of injury to the Mexican sugar industry, with the revision to
be based on both industrial use and household consumption.
The dispute has also been taken to a dispute panel under
the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is due to issue
a ruling in August. |