Procedural Requirements of the South African Anti Dumping Law and Practice Prior to Imposition of Anti Dumping Duties: Are They Really WTO inconsistent?
Dumping, which is a form of price discrimination or differential pricing of different units of the same good sold at different prices in different markets, remains a continuing problem for many countries. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) members resort to the imposition of anti dumping duties or levies to offset the effects of the dumped products on the domestic industry. This article provides a critical analysis of procedural issues in the South African anti dumping law and practice to determine if it is compatible with the WTO's Anti Dumping Agreement (ADA) It particularly focusses on procedural issues prior to the imposition of anti dumping measures by the South African International Trade Administration Commission. Some authors argue that the South African anti dumping law and practice is incompatible with its WTO obligations in areas such as the calculation of the constructed export price, the determination of material injury and a causal relationship, the imposition of provisional and definitive anti dumping duties and the procedure for review. The conclusion provided in this article is that the South African law and application of anti dumping measure is largely WTO compliant, particularly on the issues of initiation, investigation and prosecution of anti dumping complaints. JEL Codes: F10, F13, F14, F19, K33, K41