A Regulatory Analysis of Australia's Anti-dumping Law and Policy: Statutory Failure or Regulatory Capture?

Anti-dumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) law and policy permits nations to impose corrective duties against unfairly traded imports found to have injured domestic industries. However, administrators of AD/CVD policy around the world are criticised for misusing the remedy as an elaborate and complex protectionist mechanism.
A problem with many critical reviews is that explanations as to how misuse occurs, or at what point in the administrative process regulatory authorities are able to exercise bias, are rarely provided. In the Australian context, the task of identifying a source and opportunity for misuse is made complicated by three major forces affecting the decision-making processes of the Australian regulatory authorities, the Australian Customs Service and Australian Anti-Dumping Authority (ACS and ADA). This article examines the influence which Australia's international obligations, government and public policy processes and the Federal Court have upon the administration of AD/CVD law and policy in order to determine the degree of autonomy afforded to the ACS and ADA.