From the AFR:
The federal government will create a new regulator in a bid to stop cheap foreign imports as part of anti-dumping changes announced on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the government would create the Anti-Dumping Commission to investigate complaints, boost funding to Customs by $24 million over four years and introduce stricter penalties against overseas producers who deliberately circumvent the rules.
“Australian manufacturing can only be strong if it gets a fair go and a level playing field,” Ms Gillard said at the OneSteel factory in Laverton, Victoria today.
What can I say? I’d much rather they go after the dollar but at least such protections can work temporarily when the economy is no longer capacity constrained. Here’s the AiG’s response:
“The improvements to Australia’s anti-dumping regime announced by the Government today will strengthen its effectiveness, improve its administration and make anti-dumping procedures more accessible for all affected businesses,” Australian Industry Chief Executive, Innes Willox said today.
“The measures build on the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Manufacturing and will ensure that Australia’s approach to anti-dumping will be balanced and better resourced while remaining fully compliant with World Trade Organisation rules.
“Strong and effective anti-dumping arrangements are a critical defence against predatory pricing on an international scale. Dumping of under-priced goods poses a growing threat to Australian industrial capabilities and employment in the manufacturing sector in particular. Together with the high dollar and the extended period of low productivity growth, unfair dumping of imported goods in the domestic market is challenging the diversity and the longer-term resilience of the Australian economy.
“A well-resourced Anti-Dumping Commission will ensure that anti-dumping claims can be investigated swiftly and in a way that is fair to all affected parties. Ai Group advocated for the establishment of an independent agency in its submission to the Brumby inquiry. It is critical, both for importing businesses seeking access to low-cost inputs and for domestic producers whose viability may be called into question by dumped imports, that suspected instances of dumping are dealt with rapidly while ensuring that all businesses can put their case in a transparent and balanced investigation.
“In cases where the Anti-Dumping Commission establishes that dumping is occurring, the Government’s proposals to remove mandatory consideration of lesser duty and to clarify the application of retroactive duties will strengthen Australia’s anti-dumping armory and make the regime more effective,” Mr Willox said.
