Anti-Dumping: Administrative Review and Judicial Appeal in GCC

Under GCC's Unified Law on Anti-Dumping, Countervailing and Safeguards Measures, final determinations in anti-dumping and trade remedy investigations have two levels of appeal: The Administrative Review and the Juidicial Appeal. 

Article 11 of the the Gulf Cooperation Council ("GCC") Amended Common Law on Anti-Dumping, Countervailing, and Safeguard Measures states:
 1. Any interested party who participated in the investigation and is directly and individually affected by final determinations taken in application of this Law and its Rules of Implementation shall before resorting to the judicial review, lodge an administrative review with the Ministerial Committee within thirty (30) days from the date of publication of such determinations in the Official Gazette. The Ministerial Committee shall decide on this review within sixty (60) days from the date of its submission, otherwise it will be considered rejected.

2. The complaining party whose administrative review was rejected can appeal before the Judicial Commission within thirty (30) days from the date of his notification by any means of notification.

The Administrative Review

The first appeal level of final GCC determinations is the Administrative Review by the Ministerial Committee of the GCC. Procedures and deadlines of the Administrative Review are found in a the Administrative Review Decree issued under Article 11 of the Common Law. 

Per the decree, Applying for Administrative Review can be undertaken by parties who had participated in the original investigation, and who were negatively affected by the final determination. 

The Administrative Review application must be submitted in Arabic Language, to the Economic and Development Division of GCC’s Technical Secretariat, within 30 days from the date of publication of the final determination in the Official Gazette. 

The date of submission of the application will be construed as the date of receipt by the Technical Secretariat, whether by hand or email or fax.  The onus of proof on receipt date will be on the applicants. 

The Administrative Appeal must contain the following information:

- The name of the appellant, job description, his signature, address and to specify the name of the committee that to which the field will be submitted 

-Date of the issuance of the final determination and the date of its publication in the Official Gazette 

-The subject of appeal and the reasons for it. All related documents of the Administrative Review must be attached and provided within the deadline. 

Upon submission, the Technical Secretariat must file the application within a special record and then should circulate it to the members of the ministerial committee. 

The Ministerial Committee reviews the application and issues its decision within 60 days from date of receipt. The Technical Secretariat must notify applicants on the decision of the Ministerial Committee within five days from its issuance.  In the condition where applicants are not notified of the decision of the committee within 60 days from submitting the appeal, the application will be considered to have been rejected or refused.

The Judicial Appeal 

The Administrative Review decision, or lack thereof, can be appealed to the Specialized Judicial Commission of the GCC,  within 30 days from the date of notifying the Administrative Review decision decision. 

Procedures and deadlines of the judicial appeal are found in the Judicial Appeal Decree issued under Article 11 of the Common Law. 

The Judicial Appeal should be submitted by email to the technical secretariat in Arabic Language within 30 days from date of notifying the Administrative Review decision.

The Judicial Appeal must contain the following information: 

-The name of the appellant, job title, his signature, address and to specify the name of the committee that to which the field will be submitted

 -Date of the issuance of the final determination and the date of its publication in the Official Gazette 

-The subject of appeal and the reasons for it. All related documents of the Administrative Review must be attached and provided within the deadline.

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