Oman wins court case in US

Muscat: The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has won a case filed against the export of polyethylene terephthalate product (PET) to the United States market.
The case is related to the amount of government subsidisation granted by the Sultanate for this product, which is produced by the Octal Company. The investigations relating to the case lasted for nearly a year and a half and were undertaken by the US Ministry of Commerce.
The US Ministry of Commerce had issued a decision about the results of the investigation carried out against the Sultanate's exports and the other involved countries about PET products on March 7. The results of the investigation showed that the subsidisation ratio of the Government of the Sultanate to the Octal Company does not constitute harm to the US industry.
After the investigations ended, it was found that the subsidisation ratio is a mere 0.59 per cent, which is less than the minimum ratio (De minimis), according to provisions under the applicable laws in the United States.
Thus, the Sultanate has been excluded from the subsidisation case without imposing any fees against its exports, while the subsidisation rates for exports from other countries was pegged at between 5.12 per cent and 153.80 per cent.
The Sultanate’s victory in the subsidisation case is an additional success for previous victories in the cases filed against the Sultanate’s exports, which reflect the efforts of MOCI, Octal Company and all cooperative bodies during the investigations period to prove that the government of Oman does not provide subsidisation to the Octal Company in a way that violates the WTO convention and the laws of the United States to impose additional fees on the exports of this company.
The benefit of this decision includes all the companies operating in free zones in the Sultanate of Oman.