The Australian Government has introduced legislation to improve the country's anti-dumping regime.

Industry Minister Craig Laundy introduced the Customs Amendment (Anti-Dumping Measures) Bill 2017 to the House of Representatives on September 13.

Dumping occurs when goods are sold into a foreign market at below the prevailing market rate in the exporter's domestic market. Countries can respond by levying taxes on imports to prevent unfair competition for their domestic producers, known as anti-dumping duties.

The legislation is intended to address potential behaviors by foreign exporters which operate against the intent of Australia's anti-dumping system. It will establish an expanded range of methods that can be used by the Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) to determine appropriate export prices and ensure effective measures remain in place.

According to the Government, under the current rules foreign exporters that stop exporting dumped goods for a period of time or export only small volumes of goods can exploit the existing reviews of dumping measures, taking advantage of movements in market prices to resume or initiate injurious dumping.

Laundy said: "This legislation improves the process of conducting reviews of dumping measures to ensure Australian businesses are not being injured by the unfair dumping of products into our market."

"This change will give the Australian manufacturing industry increased confidence in the strength of our anti-dumping system. Australia's anti-dumping system is highly regarded by many of our trading partners. This change supports our local manufacturers while complying with our international obligations."

Since 2013, the ADC has initiated more than 93 new anti-dumping or subsidy investigations.

Source: Global Tax News