No longer a planned economy

According to the accession articles China signed on its entry to the World Trade Organization, China should be granted market economy status in December this year.

The accession articles also stipulate that WTO members should abandon the surrogate country approach used in the past for anti-dumping investigations against China and any investigation should be based on product prices or production costs in China itself.

Nevertheless, since the Anti-dumping Agreement the United States and the European Union have signed is applicable to investigations against China, the surrogate country price clause contained in it is theoretically also applicable to China.