There is a growing controversy on the expiry of the provisions on the special treatment of China for anti-dumping purposes in its Protocol of Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). Actually, there is no legal basis in the Protocol for the continuing application of such special treatment after 11 December 2016; the so-called ‘non-market economy status’ put forward by its advocates is a myth. The European Union (EU) should remove China from its non-market economy status list and refrain from taking ‘mitigating measures’ aiming at offsetting the effects of any kind of State interference, which is inconsistent with the letter and spirit of the WTO anti-dumping rules.
Global Trade and Customs Journal