Anti Dumping Education

There are many regulations that Customs Border and Protection (CBP) has implemented to ensure equal opportunity for importers in the US market.    If an importer falls under a CBP regulation, they will be subject to pay the associated duties for the imposed regulation.  To ensure optimal importing practices, it is vital for importers to be aware of the regulations that they may be subject to.

One regulation that CBP has implemented is Anti-dumping Duty.  This regulation deals with imported goods that are placed into the US market with a selling price that is below fair, or market value.  An example of this would be bolts.  Another example is wooden floors.

Wooden floors are imported into the US from many different manufacturing countries.  Some of these countries produce wooden floors for such an inexpensive sales cost that they are subject to anti-dumping duties.  For example purposes, let’s say that importer1 pays $500 for wooden floor materials.  At the same time, importer2 pays $2,000 (market price) for similar wooden floor materials but they are imported from a different manufacturing country.  Importer1 who paid $500 for the floor materials can turn around and sell the materials in the US market far less than the $2,000 market price.  Importer1 would have an unfair advantage over importer2 who is paying $2,000 for essentially the same materials.  Thanks to CBP’s anti-dumping policy, importer1 will be subject to pay anti-dumping duties so that they will not have an unfair advantage over importer2.  The duties will represent an amount that will bring the materials up to market price, for example they may incur a $1,500 duty .  This will eliminate any unfair advantage that importer1 had as far as making a much larger profit than importer2.

There are many goods that are classified as anti-dumping, and an importer must be aware if their cargo is subject to this regulation.  For an easy way to search and see if goods are subject to anti-dumping duties, CBP has created an Anti-Dumping Duty Online Search.  Goods can be searched by category or type, and a list will be provided for all the anti-dumping goods.  If the category (Cat) sections reads “ADA” your goods are subject to anti-dumping duties.

Anti-dumping duty is just one of many regulations that CBP has placed in order to protect importers from unfair advantages.  Some may find it a hassle to pay duties to CBP, but it is absolutely necessary for CBP to intervene and ensure a safe and fair US market.  We as importers thank the men and women who put themselves at risk for the good of the US economy.  Click here for a more in-depth article about anti-dumping and other CBP regulations.