Protection of Belarusian Producers

The interests of Belarusian producers are protected from increased, dumped or subsidized imports detrimental to domestic industries through the use of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures.

The Republic of Belarus has legislated to regulate the use of such measures, which include:

Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 346-Z of November 25, 2004 “On Measures to protect economic interests of the Republic of Belarus in foreign trade”;
Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 612 of June 9, 2005 “On Approval of the procedures to investigate and regulations to apply special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures and abrogation of the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 800 of June 5, 2000 and No. 859 of June 26, 2002”.

The legislation of the Republic of Belarus in this field is based on international laws and regulations and the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. This was confirmed by the results of expert evaluation of the WTO Secretariat.

Since 2001 the Republic of Belarus carried out 13 investigations: 10 special safeguard and 3 antidumping. Four measures were introduced following results of the investigations: 3 special safeguard and 1 antidumping.

Currently the following measures are in force in the Republic of Belarus:

special duty on import of glass grids at a rate of 33.4 per cent of customs value;
antidumping duty on Ukrainian caramel imports at a rate of 11.76 per cent of customs value (for caramel without cocoa) and 23.9 per cent of customs value (for cocoa-containing caramel).

A unified mechanism of the implementation of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures was worked out within the scope of the legal base of the Custom Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The legal base of the Customs Union in this field includes:

Agreement on the application of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures against third countries, signed on January 25, 2008 (brought into force on July 1, 2010);
Agreement on the application of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures during the transition period, signed on November 19, 2010 (provisionally applied from the date of signature);
Protocol on the procedure of collection and use of information, which includes confidential data, for purposes of investigation prior to the introduction of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures against third countries, signed on November 19, 2010 (provisionally applied from the date of signature).

A special body was created in the Secretariat of the Commission of the Custom Union, responsible for conducting special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing investigations and making decisions on the introduction of measures based on their results.

The Department of Safeguards of the Secretariat of the Commission of the Customs Union has the authority to conduct special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing investigations. During the transition period, those functions are delegated to appropriate authorities of the member states of the Customs Union (in the Republic of Belarus — Ministry of Foreign Affairs). The decisions on the application of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures are taken by the Commission of the Customs Union.

The parties have started the exercise of the agreements to unify special safeguard and antidumping measures applicable across the Custom Union (countervailing measures do not apply in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia).

In order to implement the agreement on the application of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures during the transition period, in December 2010 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus began a review of antidumping measures covering Ukrainian caramel imports into the Republic of Belarus.

Contact Details

On the issues of special safeguard, antidumping and countervailing measures, please, contact the Protective Measures and Market Access Unit, Department of Foreign Economic Activity, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus,

Address: 220030, Minsk, Ul.Lenina, 19.
Tel.: + 375 17 227 85 71; 227 88 31.
Fax: +375 17 227 84 57.
E-mail: trade.defence@mfa.gov.by

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