The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has initiated a public interest inquiry to determine whether the imposition of anti-dumping duties or countervailing duties for cold drawn and annealed stainless steel round wire from the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and the United States would not be in the public interest.

The Tribunal had found in July 2004 that dumped cold drawn and annealed stainless steel round wire from the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and the United States and subsidized stainless wire from India had caused injury to the domestic industry. The case addressed stainless steel wire up to and including 0.300 inches (7.62 mm) in maximum solid cross-sectional dimension (stainless steel wire).

Following its injury finding, the Tribunal received requests for a public interest inquiry from The Wire Mesh Belt Company of Canada Limited and Les industries fil métallique Major limitée. The Tribunal is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to consider that the imposition of anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties would not or might not be in the public interest.

In coming to its decision, the Tribunal considered the factors listed the Special Import Measures Regulations, in particular:

• Availability of stainless steel wire from countries or exporters to which the injury findings do not apply.
• The effect that anti-dumping and countervailing duties has had or is likely to have on competition in the domestic market.
• The effect that the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties has had or is likely to have on producers in Canada that use stainless steel wire as inputs in the production of other goods.
• The effect that the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties has had or is likely to have on competition by limiting access to stainless steel wire that is used as inputs in the production of other goods.

A public hearing relating to this public interest inquiry will be held in Ottawa, Ont., commencing on January 31, 2005. The schedule for the public interest inquiry is available on the Tribunal's website.

Persons or governments wishing to participate in the public interest inquiry and at the hearing as a party must file a notice of participation with the Secretary on or before November 25, 2004, outlining their interest in the inquiry. Parties that wish to file submissions that either support or oppose a reduction or elimination of anti-dumping and countervailing duties must do so no later than noon, January 11, 2005.