The World Trade Organisation's Dispute Settlement Body in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday began adjudicating the case involving Viet Nam's suit against the US for imposing anti-dumping duties on frozen shrimp imported from Viet Nam.

During the trial's first day, the panel listened to both sides' opening arguments.

The Vietnamese delegation provided evidence defending the legitimate interests of Vietnamese shrimp exporters. The US legal team presented evidence defending the implementation of anti-dumping duties.

After the presentations, the panel asked the two sides for more information regarding the circumstances surrounding the dispute. The trial continued through yesterday.

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy assembled the three-member panel in late July upon Viet Nam's request to pursue the case.

Viet Nam and the US held consultations in March but failed to reach a consensus on the issues in controversy, necessitating the formation of the panel.

Vietnam has been protesting against the “zeroing” method used by the US to calculate anti-dumping duties against imports.

Zeroing treats all non-dumped sales as having a dumping margin of zero rather than a negative, thereby preventing non-dumped sales from offsetting dumped sales in overall computations.

The US first officially imposed anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese shrimp in February 2005, with taxes ranging from about 4 per cent to over 25 per cent.

The US has become Viet Nam's leading export market in recent years, importing US$11.5 billion worth of goods in 2009, a fifth of Viet Nam's total exports.

The next hearing will be in December.

It is the first time Vietnam has filed a suit against a country since joining the global organization in 2007.

Source: Tuoitrenews, VNS