UK Launches New Office to Set AD/CV Duties After Brexit

The United Kingdom’s new Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate began work March 6 on administering the U.K.’s new framework for antidumping and countervailing duties that will be necessary once the U.K. leaves the European Union, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a press release. The temporary directorate “will administer trade remedies functions until the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) is legally established as an independent body with the passing of the Trade Bill,” the release said.

After Brexit, the TRID will replace EU AD/CVD authorities, according to a guidance document issued March 6. No longer able to request AD/CV duties from the EU, U.K. producers will instead make requests to the TRID, which “will investigate the amount of dumping, subsidisation or surge in imports and the impact on UK producers.” The TRID will also handle investigations into whether to impose safeguard duties on imports into the U.K.

The U.K. recently announced that it will be carrying over 43 current EU AD/CVD orders after it leaves the EU, while another 66 will not apply to the U.K. after Brexit. All current AD/CV duties on U.S. products will continue to apply, including existing orders on biodiesel, bioethanol, and grain-oriented flat-rolled electrical steel, the U.K. said in the report.

Under a transition agreement reached between the U.K. and the EU but yet to be ratified by the U.K. Parliament, EU trade remedy regulations will continue to apply in the U.K. until the end of 2020, and any new duties put in place by the EU will apply to U.K. products until a review is conducted “to understand whether there is an interest in such measures being maintained once the UK begins to operate its independent trade policy,” the report said. While the U.K. government hopes the deal is ratified, establishing the TRID “ensures that British businesses will also be protected from unfair trading practices if we leave without a deal,” the March 6 press release said.

After Brexit, the TRID will conduct “transitional reviews” on any AD/CVD orders that remain in effect. “The UK duty level will be set the same as the existing EU measure until the review is complete,” the press release said. At the conclusion of the reviews, the TRID will recommend whether to keep the AD/CV duty order in place for five years and at what rates. “The Secretary of State will decide whether to keep or remove the measure, based on the advice of TRID and the public interest,” the press release said.