WTO與NAFTA架構下對美、加軟木材爭議不同論述之評析

The Softwood Lumber Dispute under the WTO Agreement and the NAFTA: A Comparative Approach

謝蕙如(Hui-Ju Hsieh)

《嶺東財經法學》 1期 (2008/06) Pp. 79-100

https://doi.org/10.29851/LTFELR.200806.0004

摘要

美加第四階段軟木材爭議主要涉及美國商務部（U.S. Department of Commerce）對來自加拿大的軟木材課徵平衡稅與反傾銷稅之裁決，加拿大分別先後於北美自由貿易協定（North American Free Trade Agreement；NAFTA）以及世界貿易組織協定（World Trade Organization Agreement）架構下提出控訴，主要爭議點在於從加拿大進口的軟木材對美國國內相關產業是否造成損害或有損害之虞、美國商務部對進口軟木材課徵平衡稅以及反傾銷稅之裁決等是否符合協定相關規定；其中如補貼之認定、反傾銷案件中是否得採用歸零法則之方式來計算傾銷差額等在WTO與NAFTA爭端解決小組各有不同的建議與結論。2006年4月美、加雙方達成軟木材雙邊協議（2006 United States-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement），依協議內容，美國與加拿大將放棄繫屬中的軟木材相關訴訟案件，包含撤銷美國徵收平衡稅及傾銷稅命令，同年9月美加同意將共同修改協議及實行軟木材雙邊協議，使得歷時多年的貿易爭端暫告落幕。本文將陳述美、加軟木材爭議發生的事實經過，並針對第四階段WTO與NAFTA裁決異同加以比較分析，並探討同一爭端得同時、先後向WTO及NAFTA訴請裁決所可能存在的潛在問題，又，既然雙方當事國同時進行WTO與NAFTA之爭端解決程序，為何未能使國際貿易爭端的解決更具效率？反之，非但NAFTA的功用引起質疑，法律爭議未能獲致結論以及時間的延宕之可能原因實值得吾人深入探究。

關鍵字

世界貿易組織 ； 北美自由貿易協定 ； 軟木材 ； 補貼及平衡措施協定 ； 反傾銷協定 ； 歸零法則 ； 管轄競合

並列摘要

The softwood lumber dispute between the United States and Canada (2001-2006) began in August 2001 in response to determinations by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission. The result of the determinations was a final countervailing duty rate of 18.79 percent and an average final antidumping duty rate of 8.43 percent. Canada claimed that these actions violate applicable legal standards and challenged different aspects of the DOC's and ITC's determinations under the WTO Agreement and NAFTA Chapter 19. The WTO Agreement and NAFTA Chapter 19 are substantively similar, but their cores are fundamentally different. This paper provides an overview of litigation arising in a series of WTO and NAFTA cases. The softwood lumber dispute goes through the analysis of parallel dispute settlement mechanisms; however, it can be said that the softwood lumber dispute has questioned the utility of NAFTA and pointed out the wastefulness and unresolved legal issues of referring a dispute to co-existing NAFTA and WTO proceedings.

並列關鍵字

Softwood lumber dispute ； WTO Antidumping Agreement ； WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures ； North American Free Trade Agreement ； Extraordinary Challenge Committee ； antidumping and countervailing duties ； jurisdiction competition