The Foreign Service Journal, January 2003

newspapers and/or online Web sites. As required by the WTO, Beijing has established offices to provide information to the public regarding trade regulations and standards in a timely and usually helpful manner. Increasingly (though still in a small proportion of cases), the government has begun to provide opportunities for the public and other WTO members to comment on draft measures before they take effect. It has even con- ducted public hearings in connection with steel safeguard and anti-dumping investigations. In August 2002, the Supreme Court promulgated “The Rule Regarding Supreme People’s Court Hearings on Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions with Respect to International Trade Disputes.” This rule emphasized compliance with WTO commitments in civil cases involving foreign inter- ests. Although China failed to reduce tariffs immediately upon accession for the remaining three weeks of the year 2001, it reduced 2002 tariffs for over 5,300 product lines from an average of 15 percent to 12 percent. This partly accounts for a significant drop in tar- iff revenues in the first half of the year. As required under its WTO agreement, China has expanded, or replaced quotas with, tariff rate quotas on most agricul- tural commodities and fertilizers, although the issuance of TRQ regulations and the allocation of the quotas themselves were delayed for several months and were marred by lack of transparency. China has issued regula- tions on the administration of the import and the export of goods for products covered by quotas and licenses, such as oil, tires and auto/auto parts. The government has also expanded the number of companies granted trading rights to include additional foreign-funded and private manufacturing and trading enterprises while F O C U S J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 57 Statistics exaggerate the size of the deficit and the seriousness of the problem significantly.