Trade and Industry Editor

THE poor track record of SA’s fair trade body, the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac), is continuing, raising questions about its capacity to fulfill its mandate.

Itac is a key state institution tasked with ensuring fair trade between SA and its international trading partners. Its work is on a par with that of the Competition Commission, only at an international level. But whereas the competition body has stacked up some high-profile successes to ensure fair competition in the local market, Itac has been floundering.

Itac has lost five court cases in the past 12 months, with three trade remedy cases pending against it.

In the latest blow, the Pretoria High Court granted an interdict against Itac preventing the institution from forwarding a recommendation to the trade and industry minister to terminate anti-dumping duties on fishing and mining rope.

Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann granted the interdict earlier this month on the basis that the recommendation was “irrational and unreasonable and must be regarded as a misdirection”.

The relief was sought by Scaw Metals, which manufacture s rope in SA, and which originally brought the dumping complaint against UK-based Bridon International, which exports fishing and mining rope to SA.

The interdict is the latest in a string of court challenges over what trade lawyers say were poor trade remedy decisions.

Itac chief commissioner Siyabulela Tsengiwe last week defended the body, saying benchmarking with its counterpart in the US showed a similar propensity for decisions to be litigated against.

“You must remember there will always be an unhappy party. The work that we do has a direct impact on the bottom lines of firms.”

Tsengiwe said Itac was considering appealing the judgment.

But he also called for specialised courts dedicated to deal with “exceedingly complex” trade-related matters.