Trade remedies

This section is not part of the standard

The content in this section is only included to help explain the standard, provide examples or make recommendations about use.

It does not contain requirements for complying with the standard and is not governed by the formal standards process.

The information may not have been updated to accurately reflect Government policy.

What a trade remedy is
How trade remedies work
Trade remedy measure types

What a trade remedy is

A trade remedy is a trade policy tool. It allows the UK to take action against unfair trade practices by overseas countries or businesses.

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) investigates whether new trade remedies are needed. It is an arm’s length body of the Department for International Trade.

The TRA is also reviewing existing EU trade remedy measures which affect UK industries. The reviews are testing if the measures are right for the UK.

How trade remedies work

Trade remedies usually take the form of an extra duty placed on imports of specific products.

There are 3 types of trade remedy. These are:

anti-dumping duty
anti-subsidy duty (also known as countervailing duty)
safeguard measures

Anti-dumping duty

‘Dumping’ is when imported goods are sold in the UK at an unfairly low price.

If a company exports a product at a price that is less than its normal price in the country it’s exporting from, it is ‘dumping’ the product.

Anti-dumping duty is an import duty charged on top of normal Customs Duty.

It may be charged if both the following apply:

an overseas business is found guilty of ‘dumping’
‘dumping’ is found to have caused injury to UK industry

Anti-subsidy duty

Anti-subsidy duty addresses imported goods which are being subsidised by foreign governments.

It may be charged if state subsidies allow an overseas business to get an unfair advantage by marketing its good at a distorted low price.

Safeguards: emergency protection from imports

The UK can restrict imports of a product temporarily if UK industry is injured (or threatened with injury) by a surge in imports.

Safeguard measures are different from retaliatory measures. Read about retaliatory measures.

Read about the UK trade remedies investigations process on GOV.UK.

Trade remedy measure types

Declaration of subheading submitted to authorised use provisions (464)

These measures are applied whenever a differentiation is made in an anti-dumping case determination between the additional duties applicable for items destined for authorised use or standard use items.
For example, a definitive anti-dumping case may decide that the additional duty applies only when the importation purpose is not for authorised use. In cases such as this, an existing commodity code is split into two and the anti-dumping duty is applied to just one of the two.
This is illustrated in the case of regulation R0157/13 (“imposing a definitive anti-dumping duty on imports of bioethanol originating in the United States of America”). As a result of this, commodity code “2207100017” (For other uses) was derived from the parent (already deeply branched) as distinct from commodity code “2207100012” (For use as fuel).
The anti-dumping duty (measure type 552) is placed on the non-authorised use code (“For use as a fuel”), whereas the code introduced for authorised use was assigned measure type 464 to indicate that an authorised use exemption was in place – no anti-dumping duty assigned to this commodity code.
These measures are for information purposes only: to end traders fill in their SAD forms and to provide ‘clear’ instruction as to the circumstances that allow them to avoid anti-dumping duty.

Provisional anti-dumping duty (551)

The vast majority of these duties are assigned to a commodity with an additional code (to specify a specific company or a home company who is to be exempted of the duty) to assign an additional definitive punitive anti-dumping duty on a commodity.
This duty is applied on top of any existing tariffs (MFN or preferential) when import duty is calculated. Anti-dumping duties are raised when an overseas exporter is accused of ‘dumping’ their goods on a foreign market and this is deemed to have an injurious effect on producers in that market. Anti-dumping cases go through multiple phases with the culmination of the case resulting in a definitive duty being applied.
Provisional duties are imposed when initial investigation (no less than 60 days from initiation of case) illustrates that the raised case is merited. From this point on, securities in the form of guarantees or bonds are required to be supplied by importers of such goods.
Compared to definitive antidumping duties, there are very few provisional anti-dumping duties on the current database. This is because they are typically converted to definitive measures once the case has been fully and forensically examined and appeals have been heard.
Alternatively, the measures could be dropped if found to be unsubstantiated.
Either way, the measures are designed to be short-lived, temporary checks until a definitive judgment is reached. The effect is to bring about protection for struggling domestic industries, if this is required in advance of a definitive judgement.

Definitive anti-dumping duty (552)

These duties are assigned to a commodity and in most cases an additional code (to specify a specific company against which a punitive measure is ranged or a home company who is to be exempted of the duty) to assign an additional definitive punitive anti-dumping duty on a commodity.
This duty is applied on top of any existing tariffs (MFN or preferential) when import duty is calculated. Anti-dumping duties are raised when an overseas exporter is accused of ‘dumping’ their goods on a foreign market and this is deemed to have an injurious effect on producers in that market. Anti-dumping cases go through multiple phases with the culmination of the case resulting in a definitive duty being applied.
Even though fault has been found with the overseas exporter, the duty is payable by the UK importer. The additional duty acts as a deterrent against trading with the offending business and helps to protect the interests of UK manufacturers in the same market.
There are 158 records in the database where an offending or exempted company is not specified in the associated additional code, compared to 18,000 records in total (data from 2019).
Where an additional code is not provided, measures are usually set to Erga Omnes to avoid circumvention by ensuring certain goods have high duties when imported from any country.

Provisional countervailing duty (553)

Countervailing duties, also known as anti-subsidy duties, differ from anti-dumping duties in that they determine that the illicit trading activity has been the result of state subsidy rather than purely the actions of an individual business / businesses. The net effect of countervailing duties is however very much the same as with antidumping duties.
The net effect of countervailing duties is however very much the same as with antidumping duties.
The provisional stage requires that traders supply securities on importing impacted goods rather than payment in full.

Definitive countervailing duty (554)

Countervailing duties are linked to companies, however a single regulation (R1519/15) caused an ERGA OMNES countervailing duty to be raised to cover imports from the rest of the world (with the exception of specific offenders USA, Canada, Argentina, Indonesia).
As with anti-dumping duties, definitive countervailing duties represent the culmination of an upheld investigation into a complaint of illicit activity with a net result that importers are liable for the full amount of countervailing duty, rather than the security that had been imposed in the prior provisional phase.

Anti-dumping or countervailing duty - pending collection (555)

This is where duty collection is suspended pending an examination into an exemption request.
In most cases, additional codes link to companies which have requested exemptions from the duties.
Companies are implicated in a form of circumvention of anti-dumping or countervailing duty by bringing component parts into the home market and then constructing finished or more complete goods from component parts.
Therefore need specific exemptions to be able to import ‘dumped’ goods.

Notice of initiation of an anti-dumping or countervailing proceeding (561)

These are introduced when the controlling authority is alerted to the fact that there is reason to investigate potential dumping or illegal state subsidy and conclude that the case warrants proper investigation.
When notices of initiation are first created, they have no end date against them: when the investigation reaches the point at which provisional duties are determined, the notice of initiation should be removed by setting the end date to the date of entry into force of the provisional duty measures.
Notices of initiation are ranged against commodity codes only and for the country that is accused in the initial applicant’s case – not against additional codes at this stage as it is too early in the investigative process to determine any specific action against an individual company.
The measure is in any case not duty-bearing. The net effect of the notice of initiation is statistical only.

Suspended anti-dumping or countervailing duty (562)

While this review is taking place, the duties against the claimant are suspended, pending further investigation of the claimant’s case.

Anti-dumping or countervailing registration (564)

Registration requests take place when a domestic producer is sufficiently concerned by the potential impact of an overseas manufacturer’s activity that they request for all imports of commodity codes to be registered, which means that duty can be retroactively applied to any imports from the date of registration if the case is upheld through provisional and definitive measures.
In practice, registration is most frequently requested as a result of circumvention. Circumvention is any activity designed to avoid the payment of anti-dumping or countervailing duties imposed on a particular product manufactured in and/or exported from a non-EU country.
Registration takes place to put in place immediate measure to help to dissuade circumvention.

Anti-dumping or countervailing review (565)

There are multiple kinds of review that can be held with trade reviews. In most cases, the review type is an expiry review, which kicks in after the fourth year of an anti-dumping or countervailing case. However there are multiple reviews that can result in review-type measures being created.
The regulation that accompanies such a measure is entitled something like “Notice of initiation of an expiry review of the anti-dumping measures applicable to imports of certain aluminium radiators originating in X” – the measures are assigned against commodity codes, not against additional codes.
Each review is accompanied by a new piece of legislation (tertiary / public notice). This measure is for informational purposes only – there is no duty or operational impact of a review measure being created.

Additional duties (695)

Additional duties are imposed on imports of goods from overseas states in retaliation for trade activities that are seen to contravene WTO guidelines.
This may be as a result of a formal Trade Disputes case or as a safeguarding measure.
Duties are also applied against imports of other US-sourced goods such as sweetcorn (maize), corrective glasses, denim and cranes
Additional duties are imposed on top of any other applicable duties, much in the way that anti-dumping and countervailing duties are added to the more standard duties.