WTO

Heller Ehrman has one of the most experienced and largest teams of international trade lawyers in the United States. From the beginning, a significant part of our trade practice has focused on GATT and WTO-related work. For the past three decades, Heller Ehrman lawyers have been working with foreign companies and governments on various matters under the GATT and WTO. This work has included dispute settlement under the old GATT, extensive advisory work on behalf of several governments during negotiation of the Uruguay Round, dispute settlement under the new WTO system, and the Doha Round. Much of this work involves counseling foreign companies and governments on whether to bring complaints to the WTO and the process involved if they want to proceed.

During the Uruguay Round, partners in the firm advised various foreign governments on the negotiation of the Antidumping Agreement, the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and the Safeguards Agreement. This advice included development of positions on the issues, explaining positions to other delegations, preparing strategies for negotiation, analyzing the proposed drafts, and preparing arguments and statements for the negotiations. Our lawyers were in Geneva for every negotiating session. We also were involved in negotiations on textiles, services, and dispute settlement.

This advisory work has continued in the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations. We were actively involved in preparation for the Seattle Ministerial, and we continued our advisory role during the period preceding the Doha Ministerial. We are now helping various clients develop long-term strategies.

We also have substantial experience in dispute settlement proceedings. We advise the Brazilian Government on all bilateral and multilateral trade issues, including GATT proceedings on orange juice and pharmaceuticals. We have been involved in several successful high profile WTO disputes between the United States and Japan:  autos, consumer photographic film, and anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled steel. In virtually all of these cases, the position of our clients prevailed.

We are particularly active in WTO disputes involving the trade remedy laws. We have been involved in several panel proceedings arising out of antidumping, countervail, and safeguard measures. These antidumping disputes involved audiocassettes, stainless steel, hot-rolled steel, bed linen, and structural steel. We represented Brazilian interests in WTO litigation over equity infusions received prior to privatization under the U.S. countervailing duty law, and in litigation over the so-called “Byrd Amendment” authorizing payments of antidumping and countervailing duties to domestic industries. We also represented Australian interests in the successful challenge to the U.S. safeguard actions on lamb meat.

Our main strength is our extensive experience. All Heller Ehrman senior international trade lawyers have experience in GATT and WTO work, both advisory and dispute settlement. The ability of several of our experienced lawyers to develop strategies has been responsible for much of our success in WTO dispute settlement litigation.

We have lawyers with strong substantive experience in all areas of international trade law. Our vast knowledge is particularly valuable in WTO disputes involving technical areas. Depending on the case, it may be necessary to go beyond the technical defense and focus on broader trade policy. From our extensive experience with high profile trade disputes, we have an extremely strong practice in trade policy advocacy, working with political and public relations advisors as necessary. We have advised and represented foreign governments in the following WTO cases:

• United States - Countervailing Duty Measures Concerning Dynamic Random Access Memory Semiconductors (DRAMs) from Korea (Korea)
• European Communities - Countervailing Measures on Dynamic Random Access Memory Chips from Korea (Korea)
• United States - Sunset Review of Anti-dumping Duties on Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Japan (Japan)
• United States - Definitive Safeguard Measures on Imports of Certain Steel Products (Japan and Brazil)
• Thailand - Anti-Dumping Duties on Angles, Shapes and Sections of Iron or Non-Alloy Steel and H-Beams from Poland (Thailand)
• United States - Anti-Dumping Measures on Stainless Steel Plate in Coils and Stainless Steel Sheet and Strip from Korea (Korea)
• United States - Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (Brazil)
• United States - Countervailing Duty Measures concerning Certain Products from the European Communities (Brazil)
• United States - Safeguard Measures on Imports of Fresh, Chilled or Frozen Lamb Meat From New Zealand and Australia (Australia)
• United States - Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Hot Rolled Steel Products from Japan (Japan)
• United States - Imposition of Countervailing Duties on Certain Hot Rolled Lead and Bismuth Carbon Steel Products Originating in the United Kingdom (Brazil)