UK will adopt some EU anti-dumping measures post-Brexit

The announcement follows a review into whether EU anti-dumping measures and other trade remedies should apply to UK trade and industry. The government has decided to only continue EU measures where supported by UK businesses, and where British businesses produce more than a 1% market share of those particular products sold in the UK.

The 43 remedies which the UK has chosen to continue include higher import tariffs on tyres and aluminium wheels from China; ceramic tiles, tableware and kitchenware from China; and certain steel and iron products from the likes of Belarus, Brazil, China, Iran, Russia and the USA. These measures will "protect important industries and safeguard jobs from the risk of low-cost imports at below fair market rates", according to trade secretary Liam Fox.

The measures will apply in the UK from the end of the negotiated Brexit implementation period, or immediately following a 'no deal' EU exit. All transitioned tariffs will be maintained at the current level until the UK's new Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) completes a full review of their suitability for the UK market.

Competition and trade law expert Guy Lougher of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that the announcement "indicates an intention to roll-over certain of the EU anti-dumping measures already in place which benefit UK producers".

"This is good news for the UK producers and distributors of those products listed, which would otherwise be exposed to the risk of below-cost imports into the UK immediately on Brexit happening," he said.

"The intention is that the UK Trade Remedies Authority will then in due course undertake investigations to ascertain whether the measures should continue – for example, because injury can be demonstrated to UK producers - and, if so, at what level. If the UK leaves without a deal on 29 March, the TRA will not have been able to complete its work before Brexit occurs and the government's decision to roll-over existing anti-dumping measures might be challenged as being incompatible with the WTO anti-dumping rules," he said.

A call for evidence on the interests of UK businesses into maintaining existing EU trade remedies began in November 2017, and an interim report was published for further consultation in July 2018. The government has now published the findings of that call for evidence, setting out its conclusions on the necessity of all 109 EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures.

The TRA, which will be based in Reading, is the planned body which will be responsible for investigating claims of harmful or unfair trading practices by overseas businesses once the UK leaves the EU. The government appointed a preliminary chair and chief executive to the TRA last year. However, the body cannot be full established until the Trade Bill, which is currently before the House of Lords, receives royal assent.

Guy Lougher warned previously that the UK risked being in breach of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules if its simply 'grandfathered' the full EU trade remedies framework into its own laws without conducting its own independent investigations.