Anti-Dumping, Competition and the WTO System: Implications for Vietnamese Legal Reforms

Abstract

The last two decades have been an extraordinary period for Vietnam. The country has undergone a dramatic transformation from a centrally planned economy into a market-oriented economy under the umbrella of Doi-Moi Policy. Vietnamese government has openly admitted the importance of liberalizing the national economy. The recent WTO accession holds the potential to create the necessary incentives for Vietnamese industries to become internationally competitive. It also leads to a strong legal reforms in regard to economic and trade laws of Vietnam.

In 2004, the Anti-dumping Ordinance was adopted by the Vietnamese government with the hope that it would strengthen the economic law regime and at the same time to accommodate the WTO requirements. However, a strong theoretical foundation for the law is currently unavailable. Therefore, although the government has expressly indicated its intent to establish a WTO-compatible and pro-competition anti-dumping system and in fact, has made tremendous efforts to shape the system in that direction, many legal problems and issues remain to be solved and clarified to ensure that the national anti-dumping policy will be applied in a manner that benefit the socio-economic interests of the nation.

This thesis is to study the anti-dumping system from the economic efficiency and competition perspectives in order to suggest for Vietnam a WTO conform anti-dumping policy, which can promote fair competition and social welfare.

Keywords: anti-dumping, competition, Vietnam, WTO, Doi Moi, foreign trade

JEL Classification: F13, K20, K29