Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – There are no anti-dumping cases pending against the Kingdom in international markets, announced Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Assistant Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for Petroleum Affairs, here on Monday. All 18 cases filed against the Kingdom's polyethylene terephthalate (PET) export by some European countries, China, India and Turkey have been resolved through negotiations, said Prince Abdul Aziz, who is the head of a Saudi team formed under a Royal Decree to deal with anti-dumping and subsidy cases. Addressing a session on the concluding day of the Jeddah Commercial Forum, he said that 29 government agencies constantly review all systems and Articles to avoid any legal loopholes that can lead to the filing of anti-dumping cases in the future. “We are taking precautionary measures to prevent any possible future cases,” said Prince Abdul Aziz. As regards fuel prices, he said: “We have proved to all that the price is not subsidized.” He also said that the government does not give any subsidies and suggested that the appropriate words should be “support and incentive” rather than “subsidies.” The prince said that the GCC anti-dumping body has to get approval from member states, adding that so far only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have endorsed it. In January this year, the Cabinet endorsed the new GCC anti-dumping law, which was ratified by the GCC Supreme Council in 2010. Prince Abdul Aziz said that the issues related to dumping have to be resolved only by establishing an independent government body that can deal with such issues locally and internationally. He called on the private sector to enhance their efforts to protect their products and brands by having lobbies. The problem is that the Kingdom has no anti-dumping procedures set either by the private or the public sector, said Prince Abdul Aziz. Answering a question from the audience about dumping in the local market of spurious and low-cost products, the prince said that countries tend to protect their products. He said the Kingdom needs multiple consumer protection societies.
