After repeated complaints by various Thailand’s domestic industries on imports subject to anti-dumping (“AD”) duty which circumvented or may have circumvented the existing measures, Thai government will finally enact new legislation on anti-circumvention (“AC”) which was given a green light by the Cabinet in August 2016.

The gist of this new legislation is that during the effective period of AD or countervailing measures, if there is evidence that foreign manufacturer/exporters have circumvented such measures, the Committee on Dumping and Subsidy will have authority to impose AC measures by collecting AD duties or countervailing duties (“CVD”) at the same rate as other manufacturer/exporter has been imposed, or at the highest rate in case the measures have been imposed for several countries. The AC investigation period is 9 months with the maximum extension period of up to 3 months.

It is noteworthy that after the publication of initiation notice, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that eventually the final AD or CVD may be collected, the Committee may assign the Customs Department to impose a security against duty in the amount designated by the Committee during an established time period. However, if the Committee ruled that the accused manufacturer/exporters have not circumvented such measures, the collected security against duty will be refunded.