Anti Dumping duty – what I need to know

There is a type of customs duty that that causes particular concern and confusion – Anti Dumping Duty.

In recent times there has been an increase in investigations to recover Anti Dumping Duties (ADD) retrospectively and most of these have been conducted by the European Anti Fraud Office ( OLAF).

Anti Dumping  duties (ADD) are an additional duty amount charged when the EU consider goods are imported into the EU at below a fair market rate. Very often the rates of duty are between 30-50% of the declared amount and so the sums claimed retrospectively can be considerable.

Anti-dumping duties are often evaded by either miss-declaring the goods on arrival into the EU or taking steps to conceal the true origin, for example by unloading on route in Taiwan from China and then declaring  on arrival in the EU as Taiwan origin.

Whilst nearly all regular importers would consider paying the correct rate of duty at import the right thing to do we would urge commodity codes used especially are double checked for accuracy.  HMRC’s powers of investigation are considerable and aside from having to pay additional duty going back years, plus interest plus a civil penalty it would also mean customs entries coming under closer scrutiny which then results in delays with clearance.

HMRC’s antidumping duty notices can be found on the web at www.gov.uk/government/collections/anti-dumping-duty-measures.

If you have any concerns regarding customs classifications we are here to help – please either call us on 01606 331103 or mail antony@klfreight.com