Injury and Causation in Trade Remedy Law: A Study of WTO Law and Country Practices

James J. Nedumpara

Nov 2016 · Springer

About this ebook

This book addresses injury and causation issues in the context of antidumping, countervailing duty (CVD) and safeguard investigations that are covered under the WTO. The book traces the origin and the negotiating history of injury and causation in trade remedy instruments and examines how this requirement evolved in the United States and more specifically in the GATT as part of the Kennedy Code, the Tokyo Codes and later the Uruguay Round negotiating texts. The book demonstrates that terms such as “principal cause,” “substantial cause” and “a cause in and of itself” are not necessarily warranted in such instruments. In the light of the experiences of key users of trade remedy instruments and the WTO Doha Round Rules negotiations, the book argues that causation determination does not require mathematical precision. Econometric or quantitative tools may be suggested, but such tools need not undermine the policy-laden nature of trade remedy instruments. Accordingly, the book suggests the use of weak-necessity and strong sufficiency test as a potentially viable causative framework with regard to injury and causation in trade remedies.

About the author

James J. Nedumpara is an Associate Professor of Law and the Executive Director of Centre for International Trade and Economic Laws (CITEL) at Jindal Global Law School. He has several years of years of experience in the field of international trade and has worked with leading law firms, corporate firms and also UNCTAD before joining academia. His specialization is in trade remedy law and international trade regulation. James received his Ph.D in Law from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and holds Master of Laws degrees from the University of Cambridge, UK, the New York University School of Law, USA as well as the National University of Singapore and a Bachelor degree in Law from the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. He was also part of the Indian delegation that appeared before the WTO Appellate Body in India—Import Restrictions on Agricultural Products (Avian Influenza) dispute.