"Dumped" imports are imports that are sold at prices in an export market lower than those in their home market, that injure or are likely to injure a domestic industry making a "like product." Dumping may also occur when sales are below cost of production.

Yes. The World Trade Organization ("WTO") has required all its members to adopt a detailed Antidumping Agreement. The United States has implemented the WTO Agreement in its antidumping statute.

Under U.S. law, a dumping duty is imposed on imports that eliminates the difference between "normal value" (the normal prices in the country of exportation) and the U.S. import prices. In some cases, these duties have been 100% of import value or even higher.

If imports are significantly underselling your products in the U.S., the possibility of dumping should be investigated. In order to file an antidumping petition with the U.S. Government, producers must usually show a dumping "margin" (imports sold at prices below "normal value" in the country of exportation), increasing imports, decreasing import prices, significant underselling of U.S. producers, lost market share, and declining profitability or losses.

In non-market economy cases, import prices are compared with the normal value of the like product in a "surrogate country," a free-market economy at about the same level of economic development as the non-market economy country. Normal value in these cases is determined by valuing the factors of production to produce the product (e.g., raw materials, labor) in the selected surrogate country. Many recent dumping cases have involved exports from China. The surrogate countries recently used in cases involving China have included India and Indonesia.

Normally cases begin after a dumping petition is filed by a U.S. industry producing a "like product." Petitions are simultaneously filed with the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Commerce investigates whether sales "at less than fair (normal) value" are taking place, and the Commission investigates whether sales at less than fair value are a cause of material injury, or threaten material injury, to the U.S. producers.

Dumping cases normally take about one year before a dumping order is issued. (However, reportedly less than one-half of the cases over the last 17 years have resulted in a dumping order being issued.) Some U.S. petitioners have found that import prices have been increased shortly after dumping petitions have been filed. The Commerce Department recently revised its regulations to apply dumping duties at a much earlier date in situations where it determines that massive dumping over a short period of time is occurring.