KATHMANDU, Jan 3: The government has enforced the Regulations of the Safeguards, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Act, enabling the authorities to check the import of obsolete and substandard products in the local market.

According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, the law has now come to full implementation with the Cabinet providing its approval for the Regulations. The federal parliament had endorsed the Safeguards, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing bill in July 2019. However, the law could not take full shape in the absence of the relevant regulations.

With the law into effect, the government can now prevent dumping by imposing additional tariffs on foreign products that are being sold in the domestic market at a lower price than their normal price. Entrepreneurs have long been demanding the government to enforce the law to control such malpractices.

Countervailing duties are import duties imposed under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to nullify the negative effects of unfairly subsidized imported goods on domestic products. Under safeguard and anti-dumping measures, the country can restrict the import of substandard foreign goods.

As per WTO provisions, a member country can impose anti-dumping measures if the imported goods are found to cause damage to the domestic products. A country can impose anti-dumping duty only if the dumping margin is more than two percent of the actual price of the products. According to the ministry’s officials, the law has maintained the threshold margin at three percent of the actual price. 

 
• import
 
• anti-dumping
 
• regulation