The Determination of Injury in South African Anti-dumping Investigations : Recent Approaches

Abstract

The WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement operates as an exception to its member's core obligations with respect to non-discrimination. However, anti-dumping measures can only be applied if the relevant investigating authority has determined that the dumped imports have caused or are causing injury to the domestic industry. Accordingly, injury and causality determinations are fundamental in anti-dumping investigations. In the last WTO consultation involving South Africa, Brazil challenged South Africa's anti-dumping procedures as regards the injury determination and the consequent demonstration of a causal link between the dumped imports and the injury caused to the SACU industry. This paper analyses the most recent investigative procedures of the ITAC against the backdrop of settled WTO jurisprudence, and examines whether the ITAC, the investigating authority for anti-dumping, has been able to rectify the lacunae raised by Brazil, or whether it has continued to commit the same mistake in its subsequent investigations.