Anti-dumping and countervailing duty refunds

What the rules require

World Trade Organization rules require that refunds must be made for anti-dumping duty paid in excess of the margin of dumping.

A refund will be paid only if the duty assessed as payable on all of the imports over the importation period is less than the total duty actually paid on those imports. That is, the amount of anti-dumping duty paid over the importation period exceeded the margin of dumping calculated for those imports.

A shortfall in duty is not payable if evidence shows that the total duty payable on the goods exceeds the amount of duty originally paid. Interest is not payable on the amount of any refund.

A margin of dumping

A margin of dumping is the difference between the normal value and the export price. Anti-dumping duties cannot be imposed at a rate that exceeds the margin of dumping.

However, it can be paid in excess of the margin of dumping that exists at the time the goods are imported. This is because the rate of anti-dumping duty is based on the historic margin of dumping calculated at the time of an investigation that led to the imposition of the duties. In contrast, export prices and normal values can change subsequent to the completion of the investigation.

Applying for a refund

You must lodge an application for a refund with our Trade Remedies team within 6 months of the end of the importation period when the goods were imported. This means a period of 6 months that either:

• starts on 1 April and ends on 30 September in the same year, or
• starts on 1 October and ends on 31 March the following year.

We will consider refund applications for all imports made by an importer of a product subject to anti-dumping duty which were imported in an ‘importation period.’

What the application must include

An application for a refund of an anti-dumping duty must include:

• the product that is subject to anti-dumping duty
• a list of all your imports of the product over the importation period, including
  • their import dates
  • lodgement number
  • tariff item (and any statistical key)
  • quantity imported
  • value for duty in New Zealand dollars
  • amount of anti-dumping duty paid on each importation
• your supplier's name, address, email, telephone number and contact person
• a copy of your supplier's invoice showing the unit price and the basis on which they were charged (such as free-on-board or cost-insurance-freight), for each import of the product over the importation period.

Processing timeframes

Within 180 calendar days of receiving your application, we will either:

• instruct the New Zealand Customs Service to pay you a refund, or
• notify you that no refund is payable.

Often, applications are assessed much faster than 180 calendar days. This depends on

• the quality of the evidence provided
• whether evidence needs to be verified with a visit to you or your supplier.

Supporting evidence

Your requests for a refund must be supported by evidence.

If you as an importer think there has been permanent change to the margin of dumping, you should also consider applying for reassessment of the rate of duty.

Contact us for the information required for reassessment applications.

Providing evidence

The range of evidence you need to provides includes:

• evidence (invoices, quotes or written evidence) from the overseas manufacturer of the costs incurred between the level at which the goods were invoiced and ex-factory in the country of export eg, freight from factory to port, port charges, marine freight, and insurance.
• if sales are not made ex-factory, evidence of costs incurred between the level at which the sales are made eg, free-into-store and ex-factory/ex-works.
• evidence of the normal value for each import of the product over the importation period, as near as possible to the date the goods were imported
• where there are distinct models, types or sizes of the imported product at different unit prices, evidence of the normal value for each model, type or size.
• evidence of the normal value comprising copies of invoices relating to your supplier's arm’s length sales, on their domestic market, in the ordinary course of trade, for a product the same, or similar to, the product exported to New Zealand.

Other evidence documents

If you cannot obtain invoices, other evidence may be acceptable such as quotes, contracts, or price lists.

If your supplier does not sell the same or a similar product on its domestic market, evidence of normal values from other domestic sellers of the product should be provided.

If you are unable to obtain evidence of normal values from other sellers, you should provide evidence to allow normal values to be constructed. Constructed normal values are based on your supplier's production cost of the product exported to New Zealand, plus reasonable amounts for selling and administration expenses and profit that would be incurred to sell the same general category of goods on the domestic market as those exported to New Zealand. This evidence will need to be provided in writing by your supplier.

If you consider adjustments are needed to ensure a fair comparison between export prices and normal values, you should explain why the adjustments are required and provide relevant documented evidence to substantiate these adjustments. Examples of the types of adjustments that might be required are differences (between export sales and normal value sales) in level of trade, credit terms, quantities sold, taxation and physical characteristics.