China has been involved in more anti-dumping cases than any other country in the world.  Statistics show that from 1995 to 2005 a total of 2,173 anti-dumping lawsuits were filed and China was the defendant in 21.6% of the cases, with a total number of 469.  The investigated products range from steel, iron, machinery, color TV, energy-saving bulbs, and locks to agricultural products such as garlic, all which were alleged to be sold in foreign markets at less than production cost.  Surprisingly, Chinese companies rarely respond to anti-dumping cases.  For example, in 2002, Egyptian enterprises sued Chinese companies for anti-dumping of ceramics tableware.  None of these 86 enterprises all located in Guangdong responded to the cases.  As a result, the anti-dumping tariff rate was arbitrated as 305%.  There have been over 150 anti-dumping cases against Chinese companies located in Jaingsu province over past few years, and of these, 30 of these companies in the province did not defend themselves.  Like in the Egyptian example, all the Chinese companies that failed to respond to the cases were imposed with high tariff and encountered great financial loss.  Many of them went out of business.

There are many respected international trade attorneys available to help companies fight their anti-dumping cases.  According to a Chinese trade lawyer, when antidumping lawsuits are announced, Chinese companies immediately receive hundreds of pages of faxes from foreign law firms offering their services.  However, these Chinese companies rarely consider retaining foreign law firms/lawyers because they see them as unrealistically expensive, and make no effort to compare financial advantages verses disadvantages.  The Chinese assume that even if they win the case, the company will have to declare bankruptcy after paying off their counsel.  In addition there is a general resistance to working with foreign attorneys as the cultures are so different And foreign lawyers are so different: their language, their thoughts, and their way of working.

So why don’t they hire a Chinese lawyer? Unfortunately, unlike foreign lawyers who normally specialize in certain practice areas, most Chinese lawyers are general practitioners, representing their clients in all types of civil and criminal cases. This keeps them from developing expertise in any particular area. Anti-dumping practice is a complicated one, requiring in-depth legal knowledge and lots of practice experience. Not many Chinese lawyers are able to obtain the necessary knowledge and experience. I would say 90% of Chinese lawyers are not prepared to do international work and are hampered not only in language skills but in their overall outlook. Chinese companies want local anti-dumping experts, not the lawyers claiming they are anti-dumping experts. But things are slowly changing: the provincial government of Jiangsu Province paid 30 lawyers last year to undergo a 3 month study of anti-dumping law and practice in the United States. Guangdong province intends to do the same in the near future.

I hope I will see no Chinese companies simply give up their right to defend their cases in anti-dumping investigations in the future as it will only hurt the employees and any later attempts to negotiate.

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