Duration of the Dumping Duty Liability and Sunset Reviews: A South African Perspective

This article examines the issue of when the new five-year period of reimposition commences in an anti-dumping investigation after a sunset review under the Anti-Dumping Regulations of South Africa (ADR) within the backdrop of the Agreement on the Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994. The paper employs a comparative study with South Africa as the focal point of the inquiry and then exploring other jurisdictions to establish a global outlook of the legal position. The paper finds that the position is unclear in South Africa as the regulatory authority vacillates between the position that the date of reimposition commences after the expiry of the sunset review or that it commences at the end of the original period of imposition. A comparative review of the statutory framework in the European Union, India, Australia and Brazil yields an ambiguous picture with these jurisdictions choosing either position. The jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) evinces that the date of reimposition commences upon the expiry of the sunset review. The preferred position of this article is that this duty is reimposed from the date of expiry of the original imposition.