The number of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases related to Vietnam's exports is expected to increase, according to Vietnamese and foreign experts.
The number had increased to a total of 42 cases last year, said Tran Huu Huynh, deputy secretary of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), during a seminar on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases related to Vietnam's exports, organised yesterday in Hanoi by the VCCI's Trade Remedies Council (TRC) and Squire Sanders, a US law firm.
There had been many anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases in Vietnam's two key export markets, the US and the European Union (EU). Vietnamese products could not yet get past the cases, which included fish, shrimp, footwear, bicycles, compact lights and polyester bags, said the TRC.
Meanwhile, there had been several other warnings regarding Vietnamese seafood and wood products.
Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, a TRC expert, said that the 42 anti-dumping cases was not such a large figure compared to other countries, but they were dangerous because Vietnam's economy depended on exports.
"With the present global economic downturn, many countries consider these lawsuits as a good way to stop Vietnamese products from coming into those countries," Trang said.
"However, the companies will have much more money to follow through with such lawsuits after the economy recovers, so the number of lawsuits for Vietnamese products may also increase," said Peter John Koenig, a lawyer from Square Sanders.
Each trade remedy was a big challenge for export enterprises and their sectors, Huynh said.
This year, enterprises would create solutions to overcome trade barriers in their export markets, he said.
Last year, when faced with anti-dumping lawsuits for their exported products, many enterprises were puzzled and tried to protest against the charges, Trang said.
Some enterprises and associations had little to no knowledge of trade remedies, she said.
To solve those problems, the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) planned to launch a system of warning risks for antidumping or anti-subsidy lawsuits against Vietnamese products, said Nguyen Ba Phu, VCA deputy director.
The system would bring useful information for enterprises doing exports and also help them deal with such lawsuits, Phu said.
The experts at the seminar also had suggestions for Vietnamese exporters to avoid anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases.
Enterprises should have long-term business strategies focusing on the quality of their products, as well as on the diversity of export markets and other products.
They shouldn't make cheap products or keep bad books of their accounts.
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