Provisions for Trade Remedy Measures (Anti-dumping, Countervailing and Safeguard Measures) in Preferential Trade Agreements

Preferential trade agreements that complement the multilateral trade regime under the WTO have recently been actively utilized. Making use of the opportunities of forming preferential trade agreements, abolishing, or tightening the imposition requirements of trade remedy measures, such as anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures has been increasingly made available within these agreements. These new approaches also often entail harmonization of competition policies and strengthening the disciplines of subsidies as substitutes for trade remedy measures.

In this paper, the details of provisions for anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures, as well as competition policy and subsidy policy in the existing preferential trade agreements are examined. The discussions at the Committee of Regional Trade Agreements of the WTO and the critical issues raised in the related dispute settlement cases are analyzed. In conclusion, a proposal for desirable forms of trade remedy measures in preferential trade agreements is explained.