ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Dumping Duties (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was laid in National Assembly on Thursday, proposing changes to the existing law to bring the country’s anti-dumping regime closer to international best practices and improve the enforcement of duties on dumped imports.
According to the statement of objects and reasons, the Anti-Dumping Duties Act, 2015, provides the legal framework for protecting domestic industries against dumping of imported goods into Pakistan.
It says several procedural and substantive amendments have become necessary to improve the efficiency of the appellate mechanism and safeguard public revenues.
The bill seeks to amend provisions relating to provisional measures, duty recovery, refunds and appellate proceedings.
Under the proposed amendment to Section 45, the National Tariff Commission (NTC) would be allowed to extend provisional measures from six to nine months when examining the application of the lesser duty rule, with a view to alleviating injury to the domestic industry.
According to the statement, amendments to Section 51 seek to expressly incorporate recovery mechanisms alongside the collection of duties under customs laws.
They would also clarify security requirements for interim court stays, including bank guarantees or pay orders, and provide for their encashment when duty determinations are upheld.
The proposed changes would also simplify the calculation of residual duty rates applicable to unknown exporters and producers by linking them to rates established for cooperating exporters and producers examined during an investigation.
The bill further proposes amendments to Sections 52, 55 and 60 to prevent refunds of duty deposits following negative final determinations or newcomer reviews where the incidence of the duty has already been passed on to buyers, consumers or other persons. The statement also refers to compliance with prescribed refund application procedures.
On appellate proceedings, the proposed amendment to Section 70 seeks to prevent premature litigation by barring appeals against the mere initiation of investigations and restricting appeals at the initial stage to preliminary determinations.
It also proposes bringing final determinations in anti-circumvention investigations within the appellate jurisdiction of the appellate tribunal.
To expedite proceedings, the bill proposes reducing the limitation period for filing appeals before the tribunal from 45 days to 30 days.
It would also empower the tribunal to issue interim directions concerning the collection or suspension of duties during remand proceedings.
The statement of objects and reasons says the proposed amendments are intended to align the law with international trade standards while improving the administration of anti-dumping duties and protecting public revenues.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026