Diarise it. Diarise June 22, or circle it on your calendar if you are old school. Why should you diarise it? Well, the day is celebrated as World Rainforest Day, International Being You Day, and National Chocolate Éclair Day in the US. I am sure they will not mind you joining in.

If you are a Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) manufacturer of cement, float glass, frozen bone-in chicken portions, garlic, pasta, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and unframed glass mirrors, you might want to put the sweet treat aside for a moment, as you have a deadline.

In the Government Gazette of May 15, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) extended an invitation to Sacu manufacturers of the products mentioned above to submit a request, before the close of business on June 22, for the antidumping duties to be reviewed prior to their expiry. If no replies are received from Sacu manufacturers, Itac will recommend to the Finance Minister the termination of the antidumping duties on the date of expiry or on an earlier date determined by Itac.

It is, however, not only Sacu manufacturers of the products that should take interest, but Sacu importers as well, particularly if countries from which they are importing are involved. For an assessment, importers will need to know the countries from which the goods are imported or from which they originate.

For ease of reference, the country or countries are in the brackets: cement (Pakistan), float glass (Malaysia), frozen bone-in chicken portions (Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain), garlic (China), pasta (Egypt, Latvia, Lithuania and Türkiye), PET (Taiwan, India, and Korea), and unframed glass mirrors (India).

Why was this Government Gazette notice published? In accordance with the provisions of Itac’s antidumping regulations, any definitive antidumping duty shall be terminated on a date not later than five years from the date of imposition, unless Itac determines, in a review initiated before that date on its own initiative or upon a duly substantiated request made by or on behalf of the Sacu industry, that the expiry of the antidumping duty would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury.

Sacu manufacturers who submit a request by June 22 should, in doing so, indicate that the expiry of the antidumping duty would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to Itac.

According to Itac, the investigation process is complex and subject to strict time limits. Late submissions will therefore not be accepted, except with the prior written consent of Itac. The commission will give due consideration to written requests for an extension of not more than 14 days on good cause shown (properly motivated and substantiated), if received prior to the expiry of the original period. Insufficient time alone is not an acceptable reason for an extension.

If the required information and arguments are not received in a satisfactory form within the specified time limit, or if verification of the information cannot take place, Itac may disregard the information submitted and make a finding based on the facts available to it.

As for the time when duly substantiated information is due, the dates are in the brackets: garlic (August 17), pasta (September 16), cement (December 9), frozen bone-in chicken portions (February 4, 2027), PET (March 8, 2027), and unframed glass mirrors (May 10, 2027).

The antidumping duty rates for the products and associated countries are in brackets: cement (Pakistan 25% to 68.87%), float glass (Malaysia 68.74%), frozen bone-in chicken portions (Brazil 3.31% to 265.1%, Denmark 7.75% to 67.4%, Ireland 2.49% to 37.52%, Poland 2.25% to 96.9% and Spain 7.56% to 85.8%), garlic (China 1.925c), pasta (Egypt 43%, Latvia 4%, Lithuania 12% and Türkiye 367%), PET (Taiwan 75%, India 54.1%, and Korea 19.7%), and unframed glass mirrors (India 68.74%).

A parting thought: Sacu manufacturers can request an oral hearing from Itac by providing a detailed agenda of the issues to be discussed at the time of filing the request.