How the EU’s New Anti-Dumping Measures Create Financial Risk
Understanding the compliance challenges businesses face under the EU’s latest anti-dumping rules.
Contents:
Classification: Is Your Commodity Code Right?
Your commodity code dictates your import duty rate, rules of origin, and all other regulations applicable to your goods. Changing just a single digit can sometimes drastically change your obligations, meaning a misclassification can carry a substantial financial risk – especially when anti-dumping duty is considered.
For the new measures on Chinese and other screws, some commodity codes are attracting over 50% in extra duty. This is a significant liability which could be waiting undiscovered.
Misclassification can lead to more than just a retroactive duty bill, which can already have a large financial impact. Other consequences can include:
- Fines or penalties for incorrect declarations
- Shipment delays and costs for storage or late delivery
- Customs audits or revocation of licences and permits
Everything considered, the risk associated with the wrong assumptions is significant. Depending on the incorrect code used and the remedial action, your landed and delivered cost may be twice what you were expecting.
Customs Support Group (CSG) helps you to mitigate this risk by providing:
- Accurate goods classification
- Regular updates on regulatory changes
- Systematic validation of decisions for defensibility
Contact us today to schedule a review of your classifications.
Origin: Where Do Your Goods Come From?
Anti-dumping measures don’t depend on the commodity code in isolation as they target origins by design. For example, the new measures for rolled steel include goods originating in China, Vietnam, and Egypt.
Customs origin is not automatically the country of dispatch or even the country of processing, creating an environment where mistakes can easily be made. The consequences of this misjudgement are the same as they are for misclassification.
Some common reasons for origin errors are:
- The goods were not processed enough to change the customs origin
- An exception in the notes means that the origin doesn’t change despite significant processing
- The combination of materials used mean that origin is inherited from one of the raw materials and not the country of production
Customs Support Group helps you to avoid origin miscalculation by:
- Verifying supplier origin documentation and production processes
- Reviewing bills of materials for mixed-origin components
- Flagging high-risk shipments before they leave the supplier or arrive at the EU border
Robust due diligence processes help you to avoid unplanned costs and penalties. Contact us to review yours.
Defensibility: Can You Prove Your Decisions?
Even with correct classification and origin verification, you are at risk if you cannot provide proof or demonstrate your decision-making process. Customs authorities increasingly expect structured data infrastructure and documented reasoning behind every decision.
Without proof that your decisions are correct, you can face:
- Held goods
- Retroactive duties
- Fines and penalties
- Extended audits
Customs Support Group helps you to defend your decisions by working with you to prepare:
- Detailed documentation for all classification and origin decisions
- Audit-ready records to support customs declarations
- Action plans for proactive change when regulations change
We help you to justify your compliance processes under scrutiny so that you can streamline the audit process and minimise the chance of incurring a penalty.
Furthermore, being able to demonstrate goods compliance processes can also reduce your penalty in the event of noncompliance – subject to jurisdiction, circumstances, and cooperation.
Contact us to gauge your risk with a customs compliance scan.
Practical Steps You Should Take to Safeguard Your Business
To mitigate the risk of an unexpected compliance bill, here are some effective steps you can take:
Map Your Exposure
Identify which products in your supply chain could be impacted by EU anti-dumping duties or similar trade defence measures.
Validate Classification and Origin Decisions
Check your commodity codes are correct, that origin documentation is verified, and that the chapter notes have been checked for exceptions on origin decisions.
Document Decisions
Maintain clear records to demonstrate compliance decisions. This supports defensibility during customs audits and investigations.
Monitor Ongoing Trade Updates
Anti-dumping duties, quotas, and safeguard measures evolve continuously. Stay informed to proactively adjust supply chains.
Partner with Experts
Goods classification and trade data specialists like Customs Support Group are used to working with businesses of all kinds adapt to changing regulations. We can help you to reduce exposure to hidden financial risks in your supply chain by identifying, quantifying, and remedying risk.
The first step to safeguarding your supply chain is completing a customs compliance scan. During this audit, our professionals will help you to minimise the exposure you have within your customs function and unlock the commercial advantages that are on offer. Contact us to get started.
