On June 8, Peru’s “Business Daily” published a commentary by Santiago Davila, editor of the newspaper’s economic section, “The Peruvian National Institute for the Protection of Competition and Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) and China’s Dumping.” The main idea of the article is as follows:
Dumping refers to the sale of a product in a market at a price lower than the price in the market of origin. When markets are fragmented and competitive, dumping will destroy competition not because the imported product is of better quality, but simply because its price is artificially distorted. Therefore, the WTO allows member states to impose corresponding anti-dumping duties to maintain fairness. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the Chinese government’s case of subsidizing automobile tires, for which the U.S. government imposed a tax rate of 81.3%. INDECOPI’s review court canceled anti-dumping duties on a variety of Chinese clothing products that compete with GAMARRA’s “fragmented and competitive” clothing industry. Now the importers’ lawyers say INDECOPI’s decision is “technical,” whereas just a few months ago they criticized INDECOPI for lacking “technicality.” I think the attitude of commenting on whether INDECOPI is technical based on whether it supports their opinion is not “technical”. Although this institution has some respectable achievements in the 20 years since its establishment, it still needs reflection. So my second question is that before the resolution was made, the president’s wife visited China, and then the Chinese prime minister returned the visit and promised the two-ocean railway. Two weeks later, the INDECOPI review court overturned the measures against Chinese textiles. Another point is that the personnel of the Review Tribunal are appointed by the Humala government. INDECOPI’s survey process cost a lot of money, as it required additional staff, questionnaires and meetings. One of the agency’s key values from its founding has been transparency, and it is now time for it to explain to the public why it reached the decision it did.
Davila is the former general manager of INDECOPI. During his tenure, the agency made the decision to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese clothing.
