Anti-Dumping Duties: How They Work and How to Check Whether Your Product Is Hit (EU, US)

How anti-dumping duties work

Under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, a product is dumped if it is exported at a price below the normal price of a like product in the exporting country. The importing country may impose an anti-dumping duty only after an investigation establishes dumping, material injury to its domestic industry and a causal link between them. Interested parties, including exporters, get access to non-confidential information and can present their views, and exporters may offer price undertakings instead of duties. A duty normally ends five years after it was imposed unless an expiry review finds that ending it would lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury.

Countervailing (anti-subsidy) duties follow similar procedures against imports that benefit from certain subsidies. Both are added on top of the normal customs duty, and they can be very high: CBP reported in 2020 that US cash deposit rates ranged from 0% to more than 1,700%.

Why the rate depends on who made the goods

• A measure covers a product, defined in words and by HS or CN codes, from one or more named countries.
• Producers that cooperated in the investigation often get their own rate; other producers from the same country pay the residual rate for all other companies, which is usually higher.
• In the EU, each company with an individual rate has a TARIC additional code. The individual rate applies only if the importer presents a valid commercial invoice with a declaration, dated and signed by an official of the producer identified by name and function, in this form: "I, the undersigned, certify that the (volume) of (product concerned) sold for export to the European Union covered by this invoice was manufactured by (company name and address) (TARIC additional code) in (country concerned). I declare that the information provided in this invoice is complete and correct." Without it, the rate for all other companies applies.
• In the US, the Department of Commerce sets the rates and CBP collects estimated cash deposits at entry. Because the system is retrospective, the final duty is often not known until two to three years later, after an administrative review, and can be higher or lower than the deposit.

How to check whether your product is affected

• Find the 6-digit HS code of the product and the full national code in the destination's tariff.
• Check the destination's trade defence measures: in the EU, the TARIC database shows anti-dumping and countervailing duties by CN code and origin with the additional codes; in the US, AD/CVD orders are published by Commerce and CBP lists case numbers for entry.
• Read the product description of each measure, not just the code: scope is decided by the description, and some measures cover parts, components or products from third countries assembled from covered parts.
• Check whether your company, or your supplier if you trade goods, has an individual rate, and under which name and address.
• Watch for new investigations and expiry reviews in your sector, because they can add or extend duties during a contract.

What exporters should do

• Tell your buyer the exact producer of the goods; the duty depends on it.
• For EU shipments under a measure with individual rates, put the required declaration with the TARIC additional code on the commercial invoice, signed by the producer's official.
• Never change the declared origin or route goods through a third country to avoid duties: anti-circumvention rules extend measures to such goods, and in the US evasion is investigated under EAPA.
• If you buy from a manufacturer and resell, check that the invoice and declaration still identify the producer as the measure requires.
• Include anti-dumping duties in landed cost and DDP quotes, and agree in the contract who bears new duties imposed after signing.