The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) has released a handy and user-friendly 20-page booklet titled The Process Flow in Calculating the Dumping Margin. The booklet focuses on three core issues, namely normal value, export price and fair comparison.

In the introduction, the booklet provides information on the process undertaken by Itac in calculating the dumping margin.

Itac emphasises that the booklet is for reference purposes only and should not be regarded as a definitive statement of law. The booklet clarifies the meaning of ‘dumping’, arguably one of the most misunderstood concepts in international trade today. Dumping is defined in the booklet as a form of international price discrimination which entails a company selling the same goods at a lower price in an export market than in its own domestic market.

It should be borne in mind that dumping is not an illegal practice, as some might believe. Further, the act of dumping must coincide with a domestic industry experiencing material injury for an application for an antidumping duty to be lodged with, and considered by, Itac.

As has already been said, dumping margins calculations take into account normal value, export price and fair comparison.
For normal value, the following is considered: the country of origin, sufficiency of domestic sales, alternatives for calculating normal value, domestic sales to related parties, and a test for below-cost domestic sales.

An export price takes into account the export price itself and the constructed export price, while fair comparison considers adjustments and dumping margins calculations.

I found the calculation of the dumping margins to be particularly interesting, as it deals with the selection of the method for the determination of the margin of dumping – there are three choices: weighted average to weighted average, transaction to transaction or weighted average to transaction.

The colour coding, concise descriptions and readable print make it a highly user-friendly booklet that could serve as a quick reference guide.

If your company is involved in the manufacture or importation of merchandise goods, you would be advised to obtain a copy of the booklet from Itac.

Customs Rule Amendments
On March 28, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published rule amendments to the Customs and Excise Act relating to the renaming of Bloemfontein International Airport to Bram Fischer International Airport with effect from that day. On the same day, Sars also published rule amendments to the Act relating to the substitution of the DA 260 Excise Account for Other Fermented Beverages as a consequence of the taxation proposals tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in his Budget speech on February 27. The rule amendments became effective from 14:58 on the same day.

Budget Tariff Amendments
On March 28, Sars published various tariff amendments that were first mentioned by the Minister of Finance in his Budget speech. The tariff amendments were in respect of schedules No 1 and 6 of the Customs and Excise Act, with the implementation dates being April 1 or 3.

WCO Permanent Technical Committee
The World Customs Organisation (WCO) permanent technical committee, which is now in its sixtieth year of existence, held its 199th/ 200th sessions in Brussels, Belgium, from March 18 to 22. To commemorate the occasion, this longest-standing WCO committee held a panel discussion on its work and accomplishments over the last 60 years and also discussed its future role in a rapidly changing world, where the changes include an increasingly complex trade and passenger environment.

Following the panel discussion, the committee discussed several strategically important issues, such as coordinated border management, the Economic Competiveness Package, information management and data quality, the globally networked customs concept, World Trade Organisation trade facilitation negotiations and their impact on customs worldwide, air cargo security and natural disaster relief.

Velocity Joints Tariff
Comments are due by April 19 in respect of the proposed reduction in the rate of customs duty on constant velocity joints (CV joints), classifiable under tariff subheading 8708.50.90, from 20% ad valorem to free of customs duty by the creation of an additional eight-digit tariff subheading for CV joints under tariff subheading 8708.50.

The applicant, Masterparts, argued that there are no local manufacturers of CV joints in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) region and the current customs duty has a cost-raising effect.

Graphite Electrodes Tariff
Comments are due by April 19 in respect of the proposed increase in the ‘general’ (most favoured nation) rate of customs duty on graphite electrodes (of a kind used for furnaces), classifiable under tariff subheading 8545.11, from a rate of customs duty of free to 10% ad valorem.

The applicant, GrafTech South Africa, argued that it is the only manufacturer of graphite electrodes in the Sacu region and is suffering serious injury as a result of rapidly increasing imports at declining import unit prices and that the lowly priced imports have severely affected the profit- ability of the business. Further, the company stated that its investment in the Sacu economy is under threat because of the serious injury being caused by imports and that, as the sole graphite electrodes manufacturer in the Sacu region, the company and its products are essential for a number of industries. Against this background, it argued, it is in the best interest of the Sacu economy to retain this important investment.

Frozen Potato Chips Safeguard
Comments are due by May 8 in respect of an investigation on remedial action in the form of a safeguard against the increased imports of potato chips.

The application was lodged by McCain South Africa, supported by Nature’s Choice Products and Lamberts Bay Foods.