Anti-dumping duties on China: how to know if you are affected

An anti-dumping duty penalises a product sold for export at a price below its normal value on its home market, when this practice causes injury to equivalent production in the European Union. A countervailing duty targets a government subsidy that distorts competition, paid in the country of origin to its exporting producers.

Both measures fall under the same EU legal framework, Regulation (EU) 2016/1036 for anti-dumping and Regulation (EU) 2016/1037 for subsidies. They add on top of normal customs duties, on the same products, and only cover certain precisely listed customs codes, not an entire country or a whole sector.

Several sectors have already been subject to such measures from China over the years: steel products, ceramics, solar panels, aluminium in certain forms, among others. This list changes over time, expanding or shrinking depending on ongoing investigations, and only the current version of TARIC is authoritative for a given code.

An anti-dumping measure results from an investigation carried out by the European Commission, generally opened at the request of European producers who consider themselves harmed. The investigation compares the export price to the Union with the product's normal value, then assesses the injury caused to the equivalent European industry.

If the investigation finds injurious dumping, a provisional duty can apply during the proceedings, followed by a definitive duty published in the Official Journal of the European Union, generally valid for several years, with a possible review before it expires. The duty rate often varies from one Chinese producer to another, depending on their cooperation with the investigation.

An anti-dumping measure is reviewed before it expires, at the request of the European industry or the exporters concerned, which can lead to its renewal, amendment or removal. A producer newly emerged on the market, absent from the original investigation, can also request a specific review to obtain a rate of their own.

The check is done by customs code, not by product name. An anti-dumping measure targets specific tariff codes, sometimes cross-referenced with the country of origin and a manufacturer named explicitly. TARIC, the European Commission's tariff tool, shows the active measures for a given code, including rates that differ by producer.

Two similar-looking products can fall under different codes, one hit, the other not: customs classification therefore comes before any anti-dumping check, not the other way round. Any doubt about the code must be resolved before concluding that a product escapes or falls under a measure in force.

During certain investigations, the European Commission can also make registration of the relevant imports compulsory, even before a provisional duty is introduced. If the investigation concludes, this registration allows the duty to be applied retroactively to registered imports, within the limits set by the decision.

The anti-dumping duty adds on top of the normal customs duty, on the same basis, the customs value. Depending on the rate set for the specific manufacturer, the cost gap between two Chinese factories in the same sector can become significant, even when their ex-factory prices looked similar.

The exact name of the manufacturer, as shown on Chinese export documents, determines the applicable rate when the measure distinguishes between producers. An invoice showing a manufacturer different from the one that actually made the goods risks reclassification and a duty claim if checked.

An anti-dumping duty already paid can, in some cases, be refunded later if the measure is annulled by a European court or if a review leads to its retroactive removal. This process remains lengthy and requires keeping all customs documents for the operation concerned.

Before signing with a new factory in a sector already under measures, checking anti-dumping exposure is part of normal due diligence, alongside checking the business licence or production capacity. Skipping this step means discovering the product's real cost after the goods have shipped, when renegotiating is no longer possible.

Some anti-dumping measures have been extended to third countries after an anti-circumvention investigation, when the Commission found that a targeted Chinese product was passing through minimal assembly in another country to escape the duty. Checking the real origin, not just the declared one, therefore remains useful even outside China.

Switching suppliers to avoid an anti-dumping duty only works if the new supplier is not itself covered by the measure, and if the goods genuinely match the customs code concerned. A product slightly altered to fall outside the targeted code remains exposed if the change has no real functional effect.

Sorva, a sourcing and brokerage house, checks a product's exposure to anti-dumping and countervailing measures from the feasibility study stage, before any order is committed, based on the customs code and manufacturer identified by our Chinese-speaking team in Guangzhou.

In most cases you pay no fees: you open a file, we negotiate the goods on your behalf, and we take a commission on their ex-factory value. If an anti-dumping measure applies, it is factored into the calculation before you confirm the order.