ADSC Protecting Local Companies From Unfair Trading Practices

Executive Director of the Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission (ADSC), Andrea Marie Dawes (third left), with members of her staff, at the agency’s offices in New Kingston, St. Andrew.

The Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission (ADSC) has been giving Jamaican producers protection against unfair trading practices for more two decades and is gaining local and international recognition.

Established 21 years ago, its mandate is to administrate the trade remedies regime in Jamaica, with a core function to defend productive and manufacturing activity on the island under the rules of international trade agreements to which Jamaica is a party. Its work is bolstered as a signatory member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and similar bodies.

The Commission pursues its responsibilities through a multidisciplinary five-member Board of Commissioners, appointed by the Minister for up to three renewable terms. The Commissioners are supported by a small cadre of specialists in law, economics, WTO trade rules, finance and related disciplines.

“The Commission as an organisation has two pillars – one, its Board of Commissioners, the watchful thoughtful eye of dedicated and visionary chairmanship at every stage of the agency’s development. Persons in the Chair included, at the very beginning, the likes of Dr. David Panton, Senator Deika Morrison and Dr. Harold Wildish of blessed memory, before the more recent stalwart, Dr. Beverley Morgan,” states Executive Director of the agency, Andrea Marie Dawes, at a recent virtual 21st anniversary event.

She says part of their success is the engagement of staff in analysis that applies the disciplines associated with remedies to the “real-world situation” in which industries operate. She noted that it has listened and engaged and pushed staff to be more careful and critical, for useful outcomes in research undertakings.

In praising the work of the agency, Executive Director of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), Imega Breese McNab, says anti-dumping laws and policies are vital to ensure that the local industries are competing on “a level playing field”.

“The ADSC has a strong record of protecting Jamaica’s industries from dumping, which ensures that our manufacturers and exporters are engaging within mutually beneficial trade frameworks,” she says.

Miss Dawes, shares that the agency which is under the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, continues “to be a rock-solid support system” for producers in Jamaica. Manufacturers and farmers know what the Commission’s work is and are assured that they are there for them to access “this unique capacity to shore up their efforts in these days of fierce global competition for market share”.

She underscored that the Commission is pursuing certification with the National Certification Body of Jamaica (NCBJ) to achieve ISO 9001:2015 standard for Quality Management Systems. As such, the ADSC is committed to providing superior investigations and global expertise to empower producers of goods in Jamaica to defend their fair share of the global market, using trade remedies.

“The Commission adheres to a high standard of investigative and training excellence for our clients. We continually improve our processes by setting and meeting quality objectives and receiving feedback to enable us to provide satisfactory service,” she tells her audience.

Miss Dawes reports that during the course of the agency’s existence, it completed investigative work for each case within one year. More than 70% of the matters completed resulted in affirmative determinations for duties to be applied to the imports that were causing the injury, affording the domestic industry concerned breathing room to adjust to competition.

She further adds that training and consultations with industries form a key part of the work of the entity, with focus on its target to prepare 50 manufacturing entities under the Vision 2030 – Medium-Term Framework.

“With the assistance of the staff, producers of goods have learned the basis and use of trade remedies and how to incorporate into their ongoing business plans and strategies regular monitoring of imports and market research, to enable them to more quickly become aware of movements in the market which point towards injury or threat of injury [to their businesses],” she states.

Arguing that importers have also learned how to “have the edge” by paying attention to matters related to trade remedies in Jamaica and abroad, she notes that they are now included in workshops and training, so that they can know how to not run afoul of anti-dumping principles or at least to judge their own commercial strategies in the face of the “existence and readiness” of the Commission.

A subsidy is an incentive given by the Government to specific industries or businesses with the aim of reducing the cost of doing business.

Dumping arises when an exporter sells goods in the Jamaican market below the price for which they would sell the same type and quality of goods in their domestic market under normal circumstances and using customary channels of distribution.

Where dumping is determined to have happened and is found to have caused injury to the domestic industry, the Government, at the recommendation of the Commission, may impose anti-dumping duties up to, but not beyond, the margin of dumping that has been determined.

Additionally, if a company becomes the target of an anti-dumping investigation in another country, the Commission will work to ensure that countervailing duties are not imposed arbitrarily against a local company’s exports.

Where a Jamaican industry files an application for a safeguard measure, the ADSC must conduct a thorough investigation that complies with WTO procedural requirements. This is to determine whether serious injury is found to have occurred or is likely to occur and the existence of any causal link between increased imports of the product concerned and said injury.

Subsequent to the investigation, the Commission can impose either special import duties or quantitative restrictions on imports. In the case of quantitative restrictions, the Commission may only reduce imports of the goods in question to the average annual quantity calculated over the latest three years for which statistics are available.

Written application or complaint can be made by or on behalf of the industry, and must contain supporting documentation and evidence. Interested persons can email the agency at antidump@jadysc.govb.8jm, or call 876-978-1800.

Source: JIS

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