UK trade body opens review into duties on Indian imports of PET plastics

London, Jul 11 (PTI) The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has initiated a transition anti-subsidy review of a countervailing measure on imports of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics from India, to assess whether the nearly 13 per cent duties should continue to be applied.

TRA, an independent “arm’s length body” of the government’s Department for Business and Trade, will consider whether the importation of the subsidised goods subject to review would be likely to continue or recur if the countervailing amount were no longer applied to those goods.

It will also consider whether injury to the UK industry in the relevant goods would be likely to continue or recur if the countervailing amount were no longer applied to those goods.

Countervailing measures are the UK’s one of three trade policy tools to counter imports which are “causing or threatening injury” to domestic industry, the other two being anti-dumping and safeguard measures.

Countervailing, or counteracting, measures address imported goods which are being subsidised by foreign governments.

“PET is a type of plastic that is used to produce beverage bottles, make packaging for food products, and is used in textiles like clothing fabrics. In 2023, total imports of PET were worth over GBP 200 million,” notes the TRA.

“The TRA will be reviewing this measure, which was inherited from the EU, to determine whether it is still suitable for the UK’s needs. The current duties applied to PET from India range from 0 per cent to 13.8 per cent. The period of investigation for this transition review is 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023. The injury period for the case is 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023,” it said.

UK businesses that may be affected by this investigation have been asked to register their interest through the Trade Remedies Service by July 25, for TRA to consider all relevant data from UK industry that will determine if the existing measure should change.

TRA, as an independent trade body, investigates whether new remedy measures are needed to counter unfair import practices and unforeseen surges of imports from around the world. Trade remedy investigations were carried out by the European Union (EU) Commission on the UK’s behalf until Brexit. EU trade remedy measures of interest to UK producers were carried across into UK law when the UK left the EU in 2019, and the TRA is currently reviewing each one to assess whether it is suitable for UK needs.