There are widespread concerns from NZ industry at the moves to make it OK to dump product in New Zealand (export price to New Zealand is lower than the domestic price of the exporting country).
The Government is looking to introduce a “bounded public interest test” – which essentially means dumping is OK as long as consumers are getting a better price or if the action means a dominant market participant gets some new competition. This was done with the Christchurch rebuild in mind. However – if they are worried about anyone abusing their market power, is that not a job for the Commerce Commission – not changing a WTO sanctioned international remedy against dumped product in order to preserve fair competition.
What does that say to local manufacturers? Build up your business and market share through innovation and investment, and quality products and services, only to have the Government intervene and let dumped product into the market to take your business away. Not good public policy from our point of view – indeed the introduction of arbitrary Sovereign Risk. Also what does this do to quality?
We attach an article from Australia where they are experiencing exactly this problem with substandard imports. Is the Government prepared to stand behind dumped product when it comes to quality issues? If we have product quality issues, who is assessing them against recognised standards? See our submission here and the article about a multi-story building fire due to poor quality product here.
I am happy to receive any suggestions from readers on this topic. You can email me at [email protected].
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