EuroChem welcomes WTO ruling against Ukraine anti-dumping duties on AN

Julia Meehan

16-Sep-2019

LONDON (ICIS)–Swiss-headquartered EuroChem welcomed on Monday a ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body ruling that anti-dumping duties (ADDs) levied by Ukraine on ammonium nitrate (AN) imports from Russia violate its rules.

The ruling upholds an earlier WTO panel judgement from July 2018 against Ukraine’s decision to introduce duties on imports of AN.

“[This is] a significant victory for EuroChem,” said the Russian producer.

According to the WTO, Ukrainian authorities should have exempted the company from the ADDs because it was not involved in dumping practices during the original period of investigation.

The WTO Appellate Body confirmed that Ukraine had acted “inconsistently” by adopting ADDs on AN by EuroChem.

“We are happy that the WTO has confirmed its earlier panel judgement against these anti-dumping measures,” said EuroChem’s CEO Petter Ostbo.

“We believe the measures were unjustified and unreasonable, and welcome the Appellate Body’s call for Ukraine to bring its measures in line with its international obligations.”

The anti-dumping measures against Russian AN were initially imposed by Ukraine in 2008 and subsequently amended and then extended after the conclusion of an interim and expiry review investigation in 2014.

The Russian Government lodged the case with the WTO in 2015.

The WTO panel ruled that Ukraine had acted unlawfully by including EuroChem within the scope of the measures, despite rulings by its own courts that the company’s dumping margin in the original investigation period was de minimis.

Furthermore, the panel found that a producer whose dumping margin was found to be de minimis cannot be subject to further expiry or interim reviews.

As a result, the panel ruled that the Ukrainian authorities had acted in breach of Article 5.8 of the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement.

AN is a chemical compound, the nitrate salt of the ammonium cation and is highly soluble in water. Beyond its wide use as a fertilizer, it is also used for explosives.

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