ISLAMABAD, July 7: The National Tariff Commission (NTC) on Friday imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on export of formic acid (85 per cent) to Pakistan by two exporters one each from Finland and Germany for a period of five years to be effective retrospectively from March 9, 2006.

The duties were imposed on two specific exporters -- 13.63 per cent on Kemira of Finland and 6.25 per cent on BASF of Germany at ad valorem of C&F export price of the investigated product. The export of the commodity from other exporters of the two countries will be exempted from the levy of anti-dumping duties.

The NTC had initiated the investigation on September 8, 2005 into dumping of formic acid (85 per cent) into Pakistan by these exporters. The investigation was initiated in response to an application filed by a domestic producer of FA 85 per cent, Tufail Chemical Industries Ltd, Lahore, under the Pakistan Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2000.

The applicant identified two exporters/producers from Finland and Germany involved in the dumping of FA 85 per cent into Pakistan.

An official announcement said that a provisional anti-dumping duty was imposed on the import of products on March 9, 2006, which then led to the final determination of the duty on the import of product from the two countries.

An NTC officer carried out on the spot investigation at the premises of the domestic industry in Lahore in order to verify the information provided by it. The applicant represents 81 per cent of the total domestic production of FA 85 per cent in Pakistan.

Imports of FA 85 per cent during the past three years have been used chiefly as an input in leather, pharmaceutical, food and textile industries.

The ordinance provides for an appeal process -- if any of the interested parties is not satisfied with the NTC's final determination and decision of imposition of definitive antidumping duty, it may approach the appellate tribunal or challenge the decision in the dispute settlement body of the WTO.

This is the twentieth investigation conducted under the ordinance. In 15 cases definitive duties were imposed. The previous cases included exporters of various products from South Africa, Indonesia, France, Taiwan, South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Thailand and India.