New Zealand consumers to benefit from new anti-dumping regime

The New Zealand government is to introduce a consumer interest test into the country's anti- dumping regime, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Paul Goldsmith said Thursday.

"We want to ensure that we have a competitive market where consumers get the best value for their money. These decisions aim to strike a balance between encouraging competition, while protecting manufacturers from dumping," Goldsmith said in a statement.

Goods were dumped if the export price to New Zealand was less than the price they sold for in their own home market, and a financial penalty was imposed on dumped products that harmed New Zealand manufacturers or a local industry.

"Before imposing at-the-border duties on 'dumped' products, a consumer welfare test will now be added to the process," Goldsmith said.

"The test will weigh the impact on manufacturers against the wider effects on industries and consumers."

The Dumping and Countervailing Duties Amendment Bill, to be introduced to Parliament later this year, would enable the adoption of an anti-dumping regime that utilized a bounded public interest test with no automatic termination period.

Under the bounded public interest test, anti-dumping duties will not be imposed on imported goods where the potential benefit to consumers materially outweighs the risk to New Zealand manufacturers or local industry. Endi