The Ministry of Commerce and Investment held a workshop on "Local Producers Awareness of Commercial Treatments", in cooperation with the GCC Secretariat Technical Office, attended by representatives of the private sector.
The workshop aims to raise awareness of the local producers about unfair and harmful business practices and how to protect their rights through the GCC Consolidated Anti-Dumping Act, the Countervailing Duty and Preventive Measures.
H.E. MCI Director General for Foreign Trade, Mr. Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi, pointed out that the Ministry, in cooperation with the GCC Secretariat Technical Office, is seeking to sensitize Gulf producers to issues related to commercial treatments, such as dumping, subsidy and preventive measures, adding that the Ministry is keen to provide technical support to producers and helps them understand these issues, as well as the procedures to be followed to raise a full-fledged complaint, in addition to raise their awareness to avoid any practices that may lead to lodge complaints against the Kingdom.
During this workshop, a presentation has been delivered on the importance, goals and mechanism of the GCC Consolidated Anti-Dumping Act and the Countervailing Duty and Preventive Measures, also the role of this Act in establishing fair competition rules in the Gulf market, besides contributing to the economic growth of the GCC countries, in addition to enabling the GCC States to take necessary measures against harmful practices in the world trade.
The workshop highlighted the role of the GCC Secretariat Technical Office, relevant to the investigation of complaints, also the stages and formal procedures of investigation, including the pre-investigation stage, the basic stage of investigation and implementation stage, followed by addressing the basic data, including who has the right to file a complaint, terms of lodging a complaint in case of subsidy and dumping, similar Gulf product, and the principle of data confidentiality.
A detailed explanation of Anti-Dumping Act, Subsidy and the Countervailing Duty was presented during the said workshop, the recipients of the subsidy would be benefited, whether individuals or a group of producers or exporters, in addition to a detailed explanation on the Agreement of Preventive Measures, through which preventive measures can be imposed against extra imports, especially if such imports cause serious harm to the domestic industry.
It is worth noting that this workshop is the first in a series of workshops to be held by MCI later, as part of the Ministry's strategic plan to raise awareness of the commercial treatments, relevant to producers and exporters.