Exporters hail recently passed antidumping regulations

The National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) yesterday welcomed the much-awaited Antidumping, Countervailing and Safeguard Measures Acts, which were passed in parliament on March 7.

The NCE said the enactment of these two acts were long overdue in the case of Sri Lanka, since over 30 countries, both developed and developing, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are competitors of Sri Lanka related to international trade in the south Asian region, have already enacted such domestic legislation.

“The chamber is particularly pleased with the enactment of this legislation since the local industry has been making representations in the past that imports are entering the country in some instances at lower prices than the normal value,” an NCE statement said.

In this context, with the implementation of the trade liberalization policies of the government and particularly the ongoing negotiations of the government to enter into free trade agreements and economic partnership agreements with several countries, including large economies such as China and India and also with Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh, which are in the pipeline, the local entrepreneurs have been particularly concerned regarding the possible surges in imports, which could cause damage to the local enterprises.

“The enactment of this legislation will provide safeguards to local enterprises in regard to imported products, which are deliberately priced below their normal value and sometimes below the cost of production of the exporting countries, to drive out competition from local enterprises, which produce the same or similar products.

Similarly, the legislation provides safeguards to local enterprises in respect of imported products, which have received excessive and unfair subsidies in the producing country, which are actionable under the legislation. Further, the Safeguard Measures Act provides for the protection of domestic enterprises from sudden surges in imports, which could cause injury to domestic enterprises,” the NCE said.

The Development Strategy and International Trade Ministry in a statement a couple of weeks ago however stressed that the new laws are not aimed at providing blanket protectionism to domestic industry but rather a credible set of remedial measures in the event of injury caused to domestic industry.

In response, the NCE said, “As stated by the ministry, the chamber is conscious of the fact that dumping is often mistaken to mean cheap or low-priced imports.”

In this context, mere complaints by the local enterprises that the goods are imported at low prices will not be sufficient to provide remedial measures through the levy of anti-dumping duties but should be done through a laid down procedure where applications should be submitted by the attracted industries for initiation of investigations and for the imposition of anti-dumping duty or to provide other remedial measures.

For this purpose, the investigating authority has been vested with Director General of Commerce, to whom the application has to be made by the affected domestic enterprises, following a laid down procedure.

Thereafter, Director General of Commerce is required to investigate and determine the injury if any that is caused to the affected local enterprises within a stipulated time frame and recommend action for the imposition of additional or countervailing duties for which the authority is vested with the Finance Ministry.

In order to make the implementation process of the enacted legislation productive and beneficial to the local enterprises, while conforming to the international trading practices, the NCE is of the view that the domestic industry and entrepreneurs, especially those engaged in small and medium enterprises, should be educated on the assessment of any damage to the local enterprises by collating accurate information and thereafter making the application to the responsible state authority.

For this purpose, the chamber suggests the conduct of suitable forums or workshops to educate the local entrepreneurs or in the alternative conduct a trainers training workshop for the representatives of the relevant trade chambers and other organisations, to enable them to suitably advice and educate the member companies to facilitate the provision of relief measures.