Sri Lankan government enacts Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties and Safeguard Measures in line with WTO standards
The government of Sri Lanka has reportedly enacted two landmark pieces of legislation that would in turn significantly advance the Sri Lanka’s position in global trade.
Sri Lanka, through the enactment of the new legislations, will be on par with World Trade Organization (WTO) standards.
Accordingly, the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties and Safeguard Measures were passed by the parliament of Sri Lanka on March 7th.
Addressing the 26th Annual General Meeting of the Industry Association of Sri Lanka (IASL) on 27 September 2017 in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen has said: “Our industries appear to be worried about the impacts of FTAs and dumping. Our Government will not enter into such agreements without consulting local industries and I am pleased to say that we are looking at new steps on anti-dumping and my DoCSL (Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka) officials are studying this. We are planning to present the draft Anti-Dumping Bill to Parliament.”
The Minister has noted that the enactment of the two pieces of legislation is a milestone development and an initiative taken by the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to fulfill the considerable need being felt by the trade and domestic industry to protect themselves against unfair trading practices and unforeseen surges of imports.
According to reports, the two new bills will empower the Director General of Commerce of the Department of Commerce to initiate investigations relating to unfair business practices under the legislative provisions of the Trade Remedy Law and effect additional duties, countervailing duties, safeguard action against imports which enter the country under unfair business practices.
A high-powered committee consisting of senior officials and ministers of relevant line ministries is to also be involved in the process.
The pieces of legislation that were recently enacted was a request of the Sri Lankan business community since it was witnessed as a remedy to deal with unfair trade practices like dumping and subsidisation by certain countries as well as safeguard the domestic industry from unforeseen import surges.
OSL take:
The enactment of Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties and Safeguard Measures by Sri Lanka, which brings the country on par with other WTO members, would result in boosting the confidence of foreign businesses/investors interested in doing business with the island nation. The move would further strengthen trade relations between Sri Lanka and other nations.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20180313/Z_2 |