Rules of Origin and Other Marking Requirements

Imported articles are to be marked with the name of the country of origin to indicate to the ultimate purchaser the name of the country in which the product was manufactured. The ultimate purchaser is generally the last person in the United States who will receive the article in the form in which it

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Deemed Liquidation by Customs

Koyo Corporation of USA (Koyo) imported roller and ball bearings for resale in the United States. At the time of entry, antidumping duty orders issued by the De­partment of Commerce were in effect. The orders required duty deposits to cover estimated antidumping duties between 48 and 74 percent ad valorem. Liquida­tion of the entries

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Product Classification

Better Home Plastics Corp. (BHP) imported shower curtain sets that consisted of an outer textile curtain, an inner plastic magnetic liner, and plastic hooks. While the textile curtain is semitransparent and decorative, the inner liner also matches the curtain and adds to the set’s decorative appearance. The sets are sold to retailers at prices

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Import Relief under the WTO

The WTO’s most-favored-nation principle provides for equal treatment of goods and ser­vices from all member countries. This principle of nondiscrimination, however, is subject to certain exceptions: A. Unfair imports Actions taken against dumping (selling at an unfairly low price) Subsidies and special “countervailing” duties to offset the subsidies B. Fairly traded imports Emergency measures

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Unfairly Traded Imports

1. Antidumping Actions The WTO’s Antidumping Agreement governs the application of antidumping (AD) mea­sures by WTO member countries. A product is considered to be “dumped” if it is exported to another country at a price below the normal price for a like product in the exporting country. Antidumping measures (the imposition of antidumping duties

Fairly Traded Imports

The WTO’s safeguards agreement establishes rules for the application of safeguard measures by WTO member countries. A safeguard is a temporary import restriction (e.g., a quota or tariff increase) that a country is allowed to impose on a product if imports of that product are in­creasing to an extent that causes or threaten to

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U.S. Import Relief to Domestic Industries

The U.S. trade policy is based on combating unfairly traded imports. There are regulations in place to provide relief to domestic producers that are adversely affected by imports that benefit from government subsidies in home countries or are dumped at low prices in the U.S. market. The U.S. rules are largely consistent with the

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Antidumping and Countervailing Duties

U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws have been subject to several changes over the years; the most recent amendments were to implement the Uruguay Round Agreements of the GATT. An important effect of the agreement is that it has reduced the discretion previously available to the administering authorities by imposing strict statutory time limits.

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Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings

Antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations are conducted either on the basis of a petition filed with the Department of Commerce (Commerce) through the In­ternational Trade Administration (ITA) and the International Trade Commission on behalf of a domestic industry or by Commerce upon its own initiative. In the latter case, Commerce must notify

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Other Trade Remedies

1. Unfair Trade Practices in Import Trade The ITC is authorized, upon the filing of a complaint or on its own initiative, to investigate alleged violations of section 337 and to determine whether such violations exist. Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits (1) the importation of articles that violate a valid

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Similar Products and Dumping

A Chilean salmon exporter was accused of dumping salmon in the U.S. market at less than fair value. An antidumping petition was filed in 1997 by the Coalition for Fair Atlantic Salmon Trade. The U.S. Department of Commerce (ITA) initiated an antidumping duty investigation to determine whether Chilean exporters of Atlantic fresh farmed salmon

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Dominican Republic: Safeguard Measures on Imports of Polypropylene Bags and Tubular Fabric

On October 15, 2010, Costa Rica requested consultations (under the WTO) with the Dominican Republic concerning provisional and definitive safeguard mea­sures imposed by the Dominican Republic on imports of polypropylene bags and tubular fabric and the investigation that led to the imposition of those mea­sures. Costa Rica was concerned about certain aspects of the

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What Are Intellectual Property Rights?

Intellectual property rights are exclusive rights given to persons over the use of their creation for a given period of time. Such rights are customarily divided into various areas, as detailed in the following material. 1. Patents A patent is a proprietary right granted by the government to inventors (and other persons de­riving their

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Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade

An important feature of intellectual property rights is their exclusiveness and territorial di­mension. This means that a patent holder or licensee is the person solely entitled to manu­facture and market the patented product within a given territory of the state in which the patent is granted. The exclusive and territorial character of such rights

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Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Protection Under Domestic Laws Most countries have domestic laws to protect intellectual property rights. In the United States, Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 authorizes the International Trade Commis­sion (ITC) to institute an investigation into the importation of articles that may infringe on U.S patents, trademarks, or copyrights. If the ITC determines

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International and Regional Protection

1. The Paris Convention The Paris Convention is used in connection with two separate treaties: (1) international protection of industrial property, and (2) international copyright protection (the Universal Copyright Convention). The Paris Convention for the protection of industrial property was concluded in 1883 and has gone through various revisions. It applies to industrial property

Global E-Commerce: Selling in a Networked Economy

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are leading to a hyperconnected world where people and businesses can communicate with each other instantly. It is intro­ducing new business opportunities by improving efficiency and productivity and generat­ing new products and services (World Economic Forum, 2012). Much like the advent of railways and electricity, it is also profoundly

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Trading Online

The website is the main tool of communication in the online market, and it is thus impor­tant to invest sufficient resources in building an attractive website with good content (some importers also use eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist to market their products). It has to be fully functional (can upload images, accept payments), have updated

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International Regulation of Electronic Commerce

The emergence of new technologies raises issues about the extent to which a balance has to be maintained between government regulation to protect the consumer and self-regulation. In 1997 the Clinton administration outlined a framework for global e-commerce and un­derlined the need for regulation and negotiation of international agreements on electronic commerce. It states:

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Patents and Access to Lifesaving Drugs

Under the Uruguay Round Agreement (1995), the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization was expanded to include the protection of intellectual property rights. The agreement covers a wide range of subjects, including patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. It allows trade sanctions against countries that fail to abide by the agreement. With regard to the

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