Under the NAFTA, Canada, Mexico and the United States retain the right to apply their antidumping and countervailing duty laws to goods imported from another NAFTA country. The Agreement also establishes a mechanism for independent binational panels to review final antidumping and countervailing duty determinations by administrative authorities in each country. Private parties wishing to contest an administrative decision respecting goods of a NAFTA country may request that a panel be established. In such cases, the panel process will substitute for domestic judicial review in the country where the administrative decision was made.
A binational panel will decide whether the antidumping or countervailing determination was made in accordance with the domestic law of the importing country. If a binational panel finds that an error was committed in the antidumping or countervailing determination, it may send the decision back to the appropriate government agency for correction. Decisions by a panel are binding and cannot be appealed to a domestic court. In addition, the Agreement establishes safeguard mechanisms designed to guarantee the integrity of the panel process.
For example, if a Mexican exporter wishes to challenge a final determination rendered by the U.S. Department of Commerce before a binational panel, the Mexican exporter must file its complaint with the appropriate office in SECOFI. The Government of Mexico, in turn, may request binational panel review on behalf of the Mexican exporter.