Guidance

Introduction to trade remedies

Updated 12 September 2024

Legal framework

Primary legislation in the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (the Taxation Act)

Schedule 4 to the Taxation Act describes the principles of how dumping and subsidy investigations should be conducted. Schedule 5 covers safeguard investigations.

Secondary legislation in The Trade Remedies (Dumping and Subsidisation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the D&S Regs)

Part 6 of the D&S Regs describes how dumping and subsidy investigations should be conducted.

Secondary legislation in The Trade Remedies (Increase in Imports Causing Serious Injury to UK Producers) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the Safeguarding Regs)

Part 5 of the Safeguarding Regs describes how to conduct safeguard investigations.

World Trade Organization – relevant agreements

Article VI of The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) allows countries to take action against dumping and subsidisation.

The Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (Anti-Dumping Agreement) clarifies and expands the Article 6 provisions on dumping.

The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures regulates the actions a country can take to counter the effects of subsidies by launching its own trade remedies investigation and ultimately charge extra duties (known as “countervailing duties”) on subsidised imports that are found to be hurting domestic producers.

Article XIX of the GATT permits the use of temporary measures if its domestic industry suffers serious injury (or are threatened with serious injury) caused by a surge in imports. This is further set out in the Agreement on Safeguards.

Trade remedies

Trade remedies are used to protect domestic industries against injury caused by unfair trade practices or unforeseen surges in imports. They usually take the form of an additional duty placed on imports of specific products.

Trade remedies apply only to goods, not services.

There are three trade policy tools covered under the WTO Agreements and within UK legislation:

1. Anti-dumping measures
2. Countervailing measures
3. Safeguard measures

Anti-dumping measures address goods imported at dumped prices.

Countervailing remedies measures address imported goods which are being subsidised by foreign governments.

Safeguard measures protect domestic industries against an unforeseen surge of imports.

Dumping investigations

During a dumping investigation, we assess if dumping causes or threatens to cause material injury to a UK industry or prevents a UK industry from being established.

Dumping occurs when goods are imported into a country and sold at a price that is below their normal value in the country they are exported from.

Further information about our dumping investigation process can be found here Determining dumping and calculating dumping margins guidance.

Subsidy investigations

During a subsidy investigation, we assess if subsidised imports are causing or threatening to cause material injury to a UK industry or prevents a UK industry from being established.

A subsidy exists if there is either a financial contribution by a foreign authority that is specific and confers a benefit on a recipient (usually an industry or business manufacturing goods), or a form of income or price support received from a foreign authority that is specific and confers a benefit on a recipient.

Further information about our subsidy investigation process can be found here Determining countervailing subsidies and calculating subsidy amounts guidance.

Safeguard investigations

During a safeguard investigation, we assess if an unforeseen surge of imports is causing or threatening to cause serious injury to a domestic industry.

A safeguard measure temporarily restricts imports of specified goods to help domestic industries adapt to new or temporary market conditions. A safeguard measure may be applied in situations where there has been an unforeseen surge in imports which has caused or is causing serious injury to domestic industry.

A safeguard measure must be applied in a non-discriminatory way. In other words, it must be applied to all imports of the product in question regardless of their origins, although this is subject to certain exemptions, e.g. those from developing countries.

Further information about our safeguard investigation process can be found here Determining safeguard measures guidance.

Types of trade remedies investigations

This table compares the different investigation types:

Investigation type	Subject of investigation	WTO agreement	UK regulation
Dumping	Imported goods at export prices less than the normal value in the exporter’s country, causing material injury	Anti-Dumping Agreement	D&S Regs
Subsidy	Imported goods subject to countervailable subsidies causing material injury	Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures	D&S Regs
Safeguard	Unforeseen surge of imports causing serious injury	Agreement on Safeguards	Safeguarding Regs

Reviews of existing measures

We may conduct reviews of an existing measure to determine whether it should be maintained, varied or revoked.

Types of reviews of anti-dumping and countervailing measures

Anti-dumping and countervailing measures are subject to a number of different types of review while they are in operation. This table compares the different review types:

Review type	Subject of review	UK regulation
Interim review	whether the measure should be maintained, varied or revoked due to lasting change in circumstances	Reg 69, D&S Regs
Expiry review	whether the measure should be varied, maintained and extended by a period of no more than five years, or should expire	Reg 70, D&S Regs
New exporter review	whether a new exporter should be granted a different measure	Reg 71, D&S Regs
Absorption review	whether the measure is absorbed and should be maintained or varied	Reg 72, D&S Regs
Circumvention review	whether the measure is circumvented and should be maintained or varied	Reg 73, D&S Regs
Scope review	whether the goods or the description of goods to which a measure applies should be maintained or varied	Reg 74, D&S Regs
Early review	whether the measure should be varied or revoked due to new information that we did not take into account in our investigation or review, we made an error in our recommendation, or there are exceptional circumstances.	Reg 68A, D&S Regs

Further information about our review process for anti-dumping and countervailing measures can be found here Review of anti-dumping and countervailing measures guidance.

Types of reviews of safeguard measures

Safeguard measures are subject to a number of different types of review while they are in operation. This table compares the different review types:

Review type	Subject of review	UK regulation
Mid-term review	whether the measure continues to be necessary and whether an alternative measure should be applied (only applies if a safeguard measure is put in place for longer than three years)	Reg 34, Safeguarding Regs
Extension review	whether the measure should be extended, or should expire	Reg 35, Safeguarding Regs
Discontinuation review	whether the measure should be revoked	Reg 35A, Safeguarding Regs
Tariff rate quota review	whether a tariff rate quota should be varied	Reg 35B, Safeguarding Regs
Early review	whether the measure should be varied or revoked due to new information that we did not take into account in our investigation or review, we made an error in our recommendation, or there are exceptional circumstances	Reg 33A, Safeguarding Regs

Further information about our review process for safeguard measures can be found here Review of safeguard measures guidance.

Other reviews and investigations

Transition reviews

The UK chose to maintain certain anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures once it left the EU’s Common External Tariff. The UK Government identified which measures were of interest to the UK following a call for evidence. For each of these measures, the Secretary of State published a Determination Notice, giving effect to the corresponding EU trade remedies measure. The Trade Remedies Authority is required to conduct transition reviews to determine if these measures should be maintained, varied or revoked in the UK.

Further information about how we conduct transition reviews can be found in our Transition review guidance.

Exemption reviews

An exemption review assesses whether an importer or overseas exporter can demonstrate that they are not involved in circumventing a trade remedy measure and therefore should be exempted from it. The exemption review only applies to measures arising from a circumvention review conducted by the EU before it was transitioned to the UK.

Further information about how we conduct exemption reviews can be found in our Exemption review guidance.

Suspensions

During a suspension review we assess whether to recommend suspending an anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguarding measure on certain goods for a specified period. Recommendations to suspend a measure are made on the grounds that market conditions have temporarily changed to an extent that (serious) injury would be unlikely to recur as a result of suspending the measure.

Further information about how we conduct suspension reviews can be found in our Suspensions guidance.

Repayment investigations

A repayment investigation assesses whether HMRC should make repayment of an anti-dumping or countervailing duty where an importer of the goods subject to such duty believes that the level of the duty paid is incorrect.

Further information about how we conduct repayment investigations can be found in our Repayment investigation guidance.

International dispute investigations

We may conduct an international dispute investigation, if the Secretary of State directs us to investigate whether the application of an anti-dumping amount or a countervailing amount to goods should be maintained, varied, or revoked in light of an international dispute decision.

Reconsideration of decisions

We may carry out a reconsideration process, if we receive an application to reconsider a decision in a trade remedy investigation. For example, once the Secretary of State has made a decision based on a recommendation made by the TRA after completing an investigation, interested parties may request the TRA to reconsider such decision. Applicants may also request a reconsideration if we decided to reject their application.

Further information about how we reconsider a decision can be found in our Reconsideration guidance.

Trade Remedies Service and public case file

The Trade Remedies Service (TRS) is designed to allow organisations to submit applications for new investigations or reviews, to register to an investigation or review, and provide relevant case documents, such as questionnaire responses.

We communicate with parties through TRS and publish case documents and submissions to the public file.

Every case has its own public case file where we publish relevant case documents including notices, non-confidential submissions from parties and reports of findings.