According to Ms. Tuyet, these are lessons learned for many industries and fields that have been and will be facing more and more trade dispute lawsuits, typically complex and lengthy lawsuits that cause difficulties for the parties. the accused.
At the discussion “Solutions to limit the investigation of trade remedies for Vietnam’s exported agricultural and aquatic products” recently organized by Rural Today newspaper, Lawyer Dinh Anh Tuyet, Arbitrator of Central Vietnam. Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC), IDVN Law Office said that Vietnam has been subject to lawsuits related to trade remedies since 20 years ago, from 2002 with fish, 2004 with shrimp to the present. Nowadays, trade remedy lawsuits take place in many different products.
Lawyer Dinh Anh Tuyet, Arbitrator of Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC), IDVN Law Office
Based on her experience supporting businesses as well as the Government, Ms. Tuyet believes that it can be seen that there are 3 subjects participating in these lawsuits.
Firstly, businesses are the main subjects of investigation, their data will be the basis for them to calculate taxes applicable to businesses, or all Vietnamese businesses. The second group is the Government, for example, in an anti-subsidy lawsuit, the Government must answer questionnaires from the US Department of Commerce, including 40 programs.
Not only the central government but also localities where manufacturing enterprises are located. For example, the shrimp lawsuit includes businesses in Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Kien Giang and many central provinces. With such a large volume of questionnaires and such a wide area of investigation, both the Government and businesses must actively prepare and hire experienced lawyers to support this issue.
In addition, there is a very important but overlooked group, which is the industry association. Plays a very important role in bringing together businesses to respond to lawsuits. There are some associations that go even further, recommending that businesses prepare in advance.
One of Vietnam’s most important preparations is perfecting its accounting system and production data. Because Vietnam’s production data, and that of foreign businesses that I have participated in supporting, are often incompatible with the requirements of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations due to lack of detail. accuracy in daily production and business activities.
With the participation of industry associations and even organizations like VCCI, we will have a common voice among businesses and make timely recommendations to the Government and partner agencies to proceed. Investigate in a moderate manner and in accordance with international regulations, such as WTO regulations.
According to Lawyer Tuyet, in addition to direct lawsuits between the two countries, Vietnam also has a number of lawsuits at the WTO – international scale that countries sued at the WTO and Vietnam more or less won at the WTO.
“Especially with US partners, in which Vietnam requests the US to investigate and calculate tax methods, for example not applying the rounding method to 0 to ensure compliance with the agreement between the two countries. at the WTO,” Ms. Tuyet said.
According to this lawyer, “in the past 20 years we have seen extremely big changes in US law. For example, previously businesses were given 3 consecutive zeroes in administrative reviews. will be able to escape trade defense lawsuits. But later they ignored this regulation.”
Ms. Tuyet said that, with such a 3 times zero regulation, a Vietnamese company, Minh Phu Group Company, has escaped an anti-dumping lawsuit against shrimp. In addition, as in the recent shrimp anti-subsidy lawsuit, the US side also changed the way they selected mandatory defendants.
According to Attorney Dinh Anh Tuyet, US investigations are becoming increasingly unpredictable, posing more risks for businesses and business associations in general.