Author: K.D.Raju

Introduction

Over the past 25 years the practice of anti-dumping has emerged as the most widespread impediment to trade. Though most of the protectionist measures adopted by countries, such as tariffs, subsidies etc. have been brought under the umbrella of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) /World Trade Organisation (WTO) discipline, however it included a number of provisions that countries to impose new ones. The recent upsurge of anti-dumping case filings, and the attention it receives, has a longer history of anti-dumping policy and its use. Jacob Viner reports of statements by Alexander Hamilton in the US Congress in 1791, where he makes warning about foreign country practices of underselling competitors in other countries. He identified the US Tariff Act of 1816 as the first legislation of its kind, enacted to counter alleged dumping by British manufacturers into the American market. The first modern anti-dumping law was passed in Canada in 1904 to protect its domestic steel industry from dumping by US firms. This was followed by Australia in 1906. In 1916 the US adopted its full-fledged anti-dumping legislation as contained in Section 800-801 of the Revenue Act in response to the alleged dumping threat from the highly cartelised and heavily protected German industries. By 1921 most of the British Commonwealth countries had similar laws in their statute books.