Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
THE Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) will be holding a training workshop on trade defence mechanisms to counteract unfair trade practices (UTPs) and surges in imports, which cost the domestic industry.
The training workshop will be held next week in Bulawayo. The move comes after allegations on incidents of UTPs, especially dumping and economic injury to the domestic industry which have resulted in the “closure of some companies and loss of employment in the country”.
According to the CTC, the move was a result of the allegations by some industries who approached it to seek assistance on the possible solutions for the dumping.
“To counteract UTPs, Zimbabwe can apply trade defence instruments namely anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard measures, as prescribed under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements that govern these instruments.
“Accordingly, the Competition and Tariff Commission has established a Trade Remedies Unit specifically to investigate UTPs,” said the Commission in a statement.
However, the commission said it noted a gap in the use and understanding of remedies by the private sector as the industries that approached it seeking for assistance on possible solutions for the dumping failed to complete the application process. In light of that “the commission in collaboration with the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa (Comesa) clearing house has organised a training workshop to educate industrialists on how they can take advantage of the trade defence instruments to counteract incidences of UTPs on the domestic industry”.
Zimbabwe is a member to multi-lateral and regional trade agreements, which include WTO, Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), COMESA, Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and several other bilateral trade agreements.
These trading agreements have enabled the domestic industry to have access in other member states’ markets and securing raw materials and other products at
liberalised tariffs. But with unfair trade practices, such benefits alone are not significant enough in improving the local industry, which is one of the major contributors to the country’s economic development.
Online Reporter