Trade Commission and Customs Service Strengthen Cooperation Against Dumping

The Trade Commission and the Customs Service have joined forces to enhance cooperation in blocking unfair dumping imports and addressing circumvention of anti-dumping measures. The two agencies announced plans to expand information sharing to prevent evasion of anti-dumping duties and to discuss ways to increase the effectiveness of trade remedy measures.

On June 30, the Trade Commission and Customs Service held a meeting of the 'Trade Commission-Customs Service Anti-Dumping Consultative Body' to discuss strengthening cooperation against unfair dumping imports.

This consultative body operates under a memorandum of understanding signed in September of last year, aimed at jointly responding to sophisticated dumping and circumvention attempts amid global supply surpluses and changing trade environments.

With recent global supply surpluses and shifts in trade conditions making circumvention attempts increasingly sophisticated, the need for information sharing and collaboration among relevant agencies has grown.

During the meeting, the agencies shared analysis results of imported products that may be subject to dumping and circumvention, focusing on monitoring strategies to prevent evasion of anti-dumping duties.

They also discussed sharing import statistics and tax information held by the Customs Service to analyze the effectiveness of the 'price commitment' system, where exporters voluntarily raise export prices instead of facing anti-dumping duties.

The Customs Service plans to expand its dedicated organization for dumping-related issues and introduced its new 'Regular Dumping Review System,' which checks items subject to anti-dumping duties every four years to verify potential duty evasion and circumvention through third countries.

Both agencies agreed to continue monitoring compliance with price commitments for steel products and to enhance information sharing to improve the effectiveness of trade remedy measures.

Jeon Eung-gil, head of the Trade Commission's Trade Investigation Division, stated, "We will make every effort to prevent domestic companies from suffering by actively utilizing shared information for swift and fair investigations and determinations of dumping cases."

Ha Yu-jeong, head of the Customs Service's Review Division, remarked, "Through close cooperation with the Trade Commission, we will thoroughly block dumping and circumvention at the import front and work to protect domestic industries."