THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Monday asked Pakistan to withdraw its anti-dumping measures on the imports of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film, which is used in food packaging, from the United Arab Emirates.

The international trade organisation's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) established a panel in May 2019 after the UAE challenged the anti-dumping duty duties adopted by Pakistan on imports of BOPP.

In April 2010, Tri-Pack Films filed an application with Pakistan's anti-dumping authority, the National Tariff Commission (NTC), to initiate an investigation into imports of BOPP film from, among others, the UAE.

The NTC investigation, which released its report in 2012, found that BOPP film from the UAE was being dumped in the Pakistani market and imposed definitive anti-dumping duties of 29.7% on a UAE exporter, Taghleef Industries, and of 57.09% for all other UAE exporters, with effect until 14 August 14 2015.

The UAE said the duties levied were inconsistent with numerous provisions of the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement and that bilateral discussions had failed to resolve the dispute.

The US, the European Union, China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Russia, Afghanistan and Oman reserved their third-party rights to participate in the proceedings, the WTO said.

According to the report, the panel recommended that Pakistan withdraw its duties, bringing its measures into conformity with its obligations under the Anti-Dumping Agreement.

They however, declined to entertain the request of UAE that Pakistan refund the anti-dumping duty already paid.