LAHORE - The manufacturers can use Trade Defence Laws available in Pakistan to effectively counter the Indian threat following the MFN status to India, stated WTO experts on Monday.
“To effectively resist the Indian cheaper goods threat, Pakistan’s industry needs to use Trade Defence Laws in Pakistan such as Anti Dumping Duties Ordinance, Countervailing Duties Ordinance and Safeguards Ordinance. They also stated that the laws could even be pressed into service if there was a threat of injury to the industry,” observed the experts at a seminar held here at LCCI on Monday.
Mehnaz Shiraz, a WTO expert, said that the domestic industry is still not prepared for competition with the Indian industry after 16 years of signing up on the WTO. The industry is still trying to shy away from its commitments under the WTO with India, she added. She also stated that the terminology of ‘Most Favoured Nation’ used in the WTO area was a misnomer as the term meant that every trading partner will be given equal treatment and if concessions have been offered to one WTO member, it must be offered to all other members.
She added that India had already given Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan in 1996 but imposed Non Tariff Measures such as product standards, custom procedures, licenses, inspections. If government was now going to give the status of MFN, it could make use of the same exception clauses. She also added that the private sector needed to revive its associations and chambers should come up with a joint strategy for the entire sector.
Muhammad Anum Saleem, lecturer at LUMS and a WTO expert stated that there was no reported case under the Countervailing Duties Ordinance and Safeguards Ordinance in Pakistan and Pakistan was also slow in going to Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO (“DSB”) in Geneva.
He said that India was a frequent user of the DSB and had almost 300 trained lawyers in the trade area while Pakistan had just a few. India had gone to the DSB 16 times as compared to Pakistan which had perhaps gone only a few times.
Mr. Saleem added that every businessman in Pakistan could approach the High Court to protect its fundamental rights if it felt threatened from the giving of MFN status to India provided meaningful consultations with the relevant industry had not been undertaken by the government. Quite recently, the Islamabad High Court had exercised its jurisdiction in this matter to protect the local industry, he added.
While giving specific examples from the industry, Mr.  Saleem informed as to how India was getting ready to dump its products in the local market to drive out competition and give rise to unemployment and poverty. However, he assured that by making use of the relevant laws, the industry could get five to ten years’ protection even after the giving of MFN status to India.
The measures could be invoked even if only the threat of serious injury was present, he said and added that as the trade defence laws were enacted under the WTO regime and arose out of exceptions of the GATT Agreement of 1994.
Even already, the exports of India to Pakistan were approximately Rs1.2 billion compared to a meagre Rs200 million exports from the Pakistan side and a big Indian manufacturer was seeking to export huge quantities of Pet Coke to the domestic industry as a substitute to furnace oil.