Prof. Ahmed Al-Saeed Alzgard
Professor of Civil Law, College of Sharia
Qassim University, KSA
Dr. Hossam Sayed Ali
Associate Professor of Commercial Law
College of Human and Administrative Studies
Unayzah, KSA

Abstract:

Saudi Arabia has ratified and joined the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade Facilitation, and it has become an integral part of Saudi law. In light of this, the researchers will try to reach a kind of acceptable or reasonable balance between the liberalization of international trade and the protection of national industries from unfair practices, the most important of which are subsidies, dumping, and an unjustified huge increase in imports, by highlighting the concept of subsidies, dumping, and unjustified increased imports, as well as how to confront these harmful practices, find clarification for the procedures that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must follow to file complaints, investigate procedures and measures that are applied, and explain the concept of harm arising from subsidies and dumping, in addition to how to prove the harm inflicted on the national industry.
To answer these queries, the research was divided into two sections, the first of which was devoted to clarifying the nature of harmful practices, and the second to procedures or compensatory measures. The analytical approach was followed to analyze and interpret the texts of the agreement, with reference to comparative studies of subsidy and dumping issues in other countries. This was done with the aim of monitoring recent trends in the interpretation of the texts of the WTO Agreement; and trying to find benefit from them for the Kingdom.
The research concluded that the study of harmful practices in international trade is an economic study, but it falls within the framework of the rules of civil liability or harmful act, and that subsidies and dumping require compensatory measures, represented in customs duties. As for the increasing imports, the measures to confront them are administrative or quantitative restrictions. In light of this, the research recommends to Saudi organizers the necessity of issuing a special “Saudi” law to protect the national economy from harmful practices in international trade similar to the Egyptian law and its executive regulations. It recommends that compensatory measures be taken, if other conditions are met, and that national cadres must be trained in science and practice to investigate submitted complaints.

Key words: international trade, national industry, limiting imports, free competition, harmful action.

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