With trade liberalization worldwide, anti-dumping is one of the few measures available to industry to protect itself against international trade, provided such trade is unfair. South Africa in 1914 became the fourth country in the world to adopt anti-dumping legislation, while in 1921 it became the first to impose anti-dumping duties. It has consistently been one of the biggest users of the instrument, especially when measured as the number of investigations or anti-dumping duties per thousand dollars of trade. Despite this, there is little understanding of anti-dumping in South Africa, and indeed in Africa as a whole.

This Working Paper provides an overview of the history of anti-dumping in South Africa, the legislative and institutional framework and the recent statistics, i.e. since the advent of the World trade Organization in 1995. It discusses the various substantive issues peculiar to anti-dumping in detail, including analyses of the export price, the normal value, the comparison between the two values, injury to the domestic industry and whether injury is actually caused by the dumping or by other factors. It also details the procedures followed in anti-dumping investigations, from submission of an application, through the preliminary and essential facts investigations to the final determination, including issues such as oral hearings and the treatment of confidential information, before touching on the various review options available to interested parties. All of these practical discussions are made with reference to recent investigations conducted by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC), which is responsible for conducting anti-dumping investigations and reviews.

This Working Paper provides the reader with a proper understanding of the subject at hand and will assist practitioners in representing their case before ITAC, while assisting interested parties in understanding the process they are subjected to in investigations.

Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.