China gets anti-dumping ‘bonus’ under new agreement

ALAN PEAT
UNDER THE memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the governments of SA and China two weeks ago, the Chinese “have gained on the roundabout”, according to Brian Brink, executive director of the Textile Federation of SA. The agreement was gained at a price, he added, with China making hay with certain aspects of the MOU. “In it,” Brink said, “SA recognises China as a market economy – meaning more stringent tests are applied in anti-dumping actions, as would be the case with countries like Germany and the US.” This effectively makes it more difficult to initiate an anti-dumping action against China – for ANY category of product, not just textiles and their end products. “So what they may lose on the swings in the textile export trade to SA, they will gain on the anti-dumping roundabout. “But we’ll try to make the MOU work.” It restricts the importation of certain types of fabrics, curtaining and clothing originating in China, according to trade and customs consultants, Deloitte – with certain imported goods restricted by quotas, which, if exceeded, will bring a stop to their further importation. Brink told FTW that it hit at 31 textile items – six types of fabric; 24 categories of clothing; and one made-up textile product in the form of curtaining. This quota system takes effect from September 28, 2006 to December 31, 2008 – following publication by the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) of the import restriction legislation on September 1. This department of trade and industry body requested that comments from industry members reach it by September 8. When interviewed, Brink expected a lot of people to use this hearing to comment on the conditions of the MOU – questioning some of the quota levels, for example. “However, the textile industry will support it,” he said, “although we do see some problem areas. But we shall diligently try to sort these out as we go along.” According to further information released by Deloitte, ITAC will be allocating quotas to all “past performers” – that is those who imported from China under the identified tariff headings from January 1, 2003 to June 30, 2006. “Past performers,” the spokesman told FTW, “do not need to apply for their quotas – which will be calculated by ITAC based on their import statistics supplied by the SA Revenue Service (Sars). “All goods shipped after September 1 and arriving after September 28, 2006 will require a special import permit certificate (SIPC).” The quota system applies to SA only – and all goods shipped directly to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland (the BLNS countries) will not require a SIPC. If goods are shipped from BLNS countries to SA and are of Chinese origin an SIPC will be required. No partial clearances will be allowed, Deloitte added, and importers need to ship and import volumes limited to the balance of the volume on their SIPC. “If the shipped volume exceeds the balance of the permit,” said the spokesman, “the whole shipment will be disallowed. “Importers from China have to ensure that they apply for their SIPC before their goods arrive in SA.”