With the Spread of Protectionism... Strengthening Trade Remedies Including Implementation of Anti-Circumvention Measures

Launch of Industrial Damage Response Support Center
Announcement of 'Measures to Enhance the Effectiveness of Trade Remedy Systems'
Consideration of Introducing 'Limited Access System for Agents'

The government has decided to strengthen trade remedy systems to respond to the increase in patent disputes caused by the spread of protectionism. While supporting Korean companies' damage response through the Industrial Damage Response Support Centers, it will implement the 'Circumvention Anti-Dumping System' from January next year to prevent imports that bypass anti-dumping measures. The introduction of a 'Limited Access System for Agents' to ensure promptness in dispute investigations and guarantee companies' right to defense is also under consideration.

The Trade Commission of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held an inaugural meeting on the 19th after establishing 22 'Unfair Trade Practices and Industrial Damage Response Support Centers,' mainly composed of industry-specific associations and organizations, to comprehensively support Korean companies' responses to damages caused by unfair trade practices.

To strengthen companies' use of trade remedy systems, the Trade Commission revised the notification on the 26th of last month to add industrial damage response functions to the existing Unfair Trade Practices Reporting Centers and renamed them as Unfair Trade Practices and Industrial Damage Response Support Centers.

The meeting was attended by Lee Jae-min, Chairman of the Trade Commission, Cheon Young-gil, Standing Commissioner, and personnel from the support centers, where they shared the main missions and roles of the support centers, the Trade Commission's support measures, and discussed the future direction of the centers' activities.

On this day, the Trade Commission also announced the 'Measures to Enhance the Effectiveness of Trade Remedy Systems' to promptly respond to changes in the global trade environment, such as the spread of protectionism and intensified competition in advanced technologies. To improve the promptness, effectiveness, and accessibility of trade remedy systems, the Circumvention Anti-Dumping System will be implemented from January 1 next year. Additionally, the introduction of a Limited Access System for Agents to ensure swift investigations and guarantee companies' defense rights is under review. This system allows limited access to business secret materials submitted to the Trade Commission during investigations of unfair trade practices such as intellectual property rights infringement, only to the opposing party's agents.

Chairman Lee said, "With the launch of the Unfair Trade Practices and Industrial Damage Response Support Centers, we can comprehensively support our companies' responses to industrial damages." He added, "We will continue to improve the system so that trade remedy measures can operate swiftly and effectively against unfair trade practices such as dumping and intellectual property rights infringement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.