Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties on Imports into Malaysia

An importer clears a shipment of galvanised steel coil from Vietnam, pays the ordinary import duty, and later gets a bill from Customs for a further slice of the transaction value. Nothing changed about the goods. What changed is that the tariff line and the country of origin appear together in a gazetted Customs Order that nobody in the chain read.

Anti-dumping duty is the most expensive line item in Malaysian importing that almost nobody checks in advance, because it does not live where importers look for duty rates.

What are these duties, and what triggers them?

Two remedies, one statute — the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993 (Act 504), with the operative machinery in the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Regulations 1994, P.U.(A) 233/94.

Anti-dumping duty answers price discrimination. Dumping is exporting into Malaysia below normal value — the comparable price in the exporter’s own domestic market (s.16). The gap is the dumping margin, and under s.15(2) the duty equals that margin, or a lower amount if a lower duty would be enough to remove the injury.

Countervailing duty answers a foreign subsidy. Part IA classifies subsidies as prohibited, actionable or non-actionable, and the duty offsets the countervailable benefit.

Neither is available on price alone. Three elements must all be present: the dumping or subsidy, material injury to the Malaysian industry producing the like product, and a causal link between them (ss.22A and 7A). Two thresholds kill a case early — under the s.2 definitions a dumping margin below 2% of export price is de minimis, and imports from a country accounting for under 3% of total imports of the like product are negligible, unless several such countries together exceed 7%. Section 46 bars double counting: nothing may carry both duties for the same situation.

Who investigates, and who actually imposes the duty?

This is where most descriptions go wrong, and the distinction has practical consequences.

The investigating authority is the Trade Practices Section of MITI, at Menara MITI in Kuala Lumpur. Petitions are filed through MITI’s TRIMA system on the trade remedies portal. MITI runs the questionnaires, the verification and the determinations.

But MITI does not impose the duty. Section 30(4) is explicit: the Minister makes a recommendation to the Minister of Finance, who makes the determination or decision. The duty then reaches the statute book as a Customs (Anti-Dumping Duties) Order gazetted under the Customs Act 1967 (Act 235) — which is why AGC indexes the modern duty orders against Act 235, and why searching Act 504’s subsidiary legislation alone will miss the instrument that actually charges you. Section 34 requires Act 504 to be construed as one with the Customs Act 1967, with Act 504 prevailing on any inconsistency.

Collection is by an officer of customs (s.30(5)). Under s.30(6), a dispute about whether a particular product falls inside a notification goes back to the Minister — not to the customs station.

How does a petition work, and how long does it take?

A petition comes from the domestic industry, or someone acting on its behalf, and must carry evidence of all three elements (s.20(2)). The Government notifies the exporting country’s government before proceeding (s.20(3)), and may self-initiate in special circumstances (s.20(7)).

The standing test is two-limbed and sits in regulation 7(2), not in the Act. A petition counts as made by or on behalf of the domestic industry only if it is supported by producers whose collective output is more than 50% of production by the portion of the industry expressing a view either way, and those supporters account for more than 25% of total domestic production of the like product. A trade association pushing a case with two willing members out of ten does not clear this.

The prescribed clocks, all from the Regulations:

Stage	Period	Source
Determination on adequacy of petition	30 days from receipt	reg 6(1)
Re-filing after rejection	not before 6 months	reg 6(2)
Questionnaire reply	at least 30 days	reg 9(2)
Preliminary determination	120 days from notice of initiation	reg 10(1)
Extension of preliminary determination	a further 30 days, special circumstances	reg 10(2)
Provisional measures, earliest	not before 60 days after initiation	reg 13(1)
Provisional measures, maximum duration	120 days from the affirmative preliminary notice	reg 13(2)
Final determination	120 days from notice of preliminary determination	reg 15(1)
Administrative review	not before 1 year; normally complete in 180 days	reg 34
Refund review	180 days from the decision to review	reg 36(4)

All notices are published in the Gazette (s.45).

Provisional versus definitive duties

Provisional measures are not simply a duty you pay. Under s.24(2) they take the form of provisional anti-dumping duties guaranteed by a security equal to the estimated dumping margin from the preliminary determination. They bite on goods imported on or after publication of the affirmative preliminary notice.

What happens to that security depends on the final outcome. A negative final determination terminates the measures and releases the security (s.25(3)). An affirmative one converts the exposure into definitive duty. But s.25(5A) carries a point in the importer’s favour that is widely missed: where the finding is only a threat of injury or material retardation and no injury has actually occurred, definitive duty runs only from the date of that determination, and the security posted during the provisional period must be released immediately.

Section 25(4A) also lets the Government weigh public interest in deciding whether to impose a duty and at what level — a rarely used but real argument for downstream users.

How does an importer find out whether a duty applies?

Work in this order, and do it before the purchase order, not before the consignment clears.

1. Get the exact HS code, to the full statistical level. MITI’s measures-in-force table lists codes as, for example, 7210.49.11 00. A neighbouring subheading in the same four-digit group may sit entirely outside the measure. This is a tariff-line question, not a product-description question.

2. Check MITI’s measures-in-force table at traderemedies.miti.gov.my/public/investigation. It carries current measures and ongoing investigations, each with product, HS codes, countries and the exact imposition window. As at July 2026 there were nine measures in force:

Product	Countries	In force
Prepainted, painted or colour coated steel coils	China, Viet Nam	20 Jul 2021 – 15 Jan 2027
Cold rolled coils below 1300mm	China, Korea, Viet Nam	9 Oct 2021 – 8 Oct 2026
Stranded steel wires for prestressing concrete	China	25 Dec 2021 – 24 Dec 2026
Cold rolled stainless steel in coils or sheets	China, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand	27 Jul 2023 – 26 Jul 2028
Cold rolled coils of alloy or non-alloy steel under 1300mm	Japan	29 Sep 2023 – 28 Sep 2028
Polyethylene terephthalate	China, Indonesia	7 May 2025 – 6 May 2030
Tinplate flat-rolled products, 600mm or more	China, India, Japan, Korea	11 May 2025 – 10 May 2030
Cold rolled coils of iron or non-alloy steel over 1300mm	China, Japan	23 Jun 2025 – 22 Jun 2030
Galvanised iron or steel coils and sheets, hot dip	China, Korea, Viet Nam	1 Nov 2025 – 31 Oct 2030

Two investigations were ongoing: an expiry review of prepainted steel coils, and a fresh case on aluminium-zinc coated flat rolled steel from China, Chinese Taipei and Viet Nam.

Every measure in force is on steel or petrochemicals — that is where Malaysia’s petitioning domestic industries are. If you import either, assume exposure until you have checked.

3. Open the gazetted Customs Order and find your producer. The table gives you the measure; only the Order gives you the rate, and rates are producer-specific, with a residual rate for producers not named and express exclusions for some. A supplier switch inside the same country can change your landed cost materially in either direction.

4. Check origin, not shipment route. Section 44 is unambiguous: where goods reach Malaysia through an intermediate country, the transaction is treated as between the country of origin and Malaysia. Routing through a third country does not escape the duty, and s.37 gives the Government express anti-circumvention powers.

What to do if a duty does apply

If an investigation is live and you import the goods, participate. Importers are interested parties and should receive a questionnaire on initiation, with at least 30 days to respond (reg 9(2)). Under s.41 the Government may use the facts available where a party does not cooperate — in practice, the least favourable reading. The non-confidential public file is searchable on the portal by case number, HS code and country.

Since 6 February 2025, submission is electronic. P.U.(A) 53/2025 replaced regulations 37(4) and 37(6) so that an interested party supplies confidential and non-confidential versions electronically in a format compatible with the Government’s computer systems. Note that MITI’s own published consolidation of the 1994 Regulations is stale on this point — it still shows the old regulation 37(4) requiring five hard copies of the confidential version and three of the non-confidential, and regulation 37(6) referring to computer tapes and diskettes. Read the gazetted amendment, not the ministry’s PDF.

If the duty is already in force, the realistic routes are:

• Expedited review (s.28B) for a new shipper — an exporter who did not export during the investigation period and is unrelated to those who did, seeking an individual rate.
• Administrative review (s.28) where the dumping margin has changed substantially or the duty is no longer necessary. Available only after one year from the decision under review (reg 34(1)).
• Refund review (s.28A) where duty collected exceeds the actual margin. Guard the 30-day gate: regulation 36(2)(a) requires a refund application filed with the Customs Department within 30 days of entry of the merchandise into Malaysia. This is the most common way a legitimate refund claim dies.
• Judicial review (s.34A) to the High Court under Order 53, filed within 30 days of publication of the final determination or final administrative review determination. Section 34A(4) is blunt: filing does not stop the Government collecting.

Plan around the sunset. Under s.28(6) duty is not collected on imports made more than five years after imposition, or five years after the most recent administrative review covering both dumping and injury. It lapses automatically unless an expiry review initiated before that date finds recurrence likely. Regulation 35(1) requires MITI to publish notice of the impending termination at least six months beforehand — that notice is the cue to decide whether to participate, because a duty that survives a review runs another five years.

Common mistakes

Looking only at the Customs Duties Order. Anti-dumping duty is charged by a separate Customs (Anti-Dumping Duties) Order. Your ordinary tariff rate says nothing about it.

Matching on product description instead of HS code. Descriptions in the table are shorthand; the codes are the law.

Assuming a country-wide rate. Rates are set per producer, with a residual for the unnamed. A different mill in the same country can transform the duty.

Treating an ongoing investigation as harmless. Provisional duties attach from publication of the affirmative preliminary determination and can bite as early as 60 days after initiation. Goods ordered today can land inside that window.

Thinking an investigation delays clearance. Section 47 says the opposite — the goods move; the liability follows.

Confusing safeguards with anti-dumping. Safeguards are a different statute (Act 657), respond to import surges rather than unfair pricing, and apply to all sources.

Filing a petition without doing the standing arithmetic. Regulation 7(2) has two limbs — over 50% of the expressing portion and over 25% of total domestic production. Petitions fail on this before anyone looks at prices.

What’s next

If you import steel or petrochemicals, pull your last twelve months of declarations, list the distinct HS code and origin pairs, and run them against MITI’s measures-in-force table. That exercise takes an afternoon and is the whole of your exposure assessment.

If a code and origin match, get the gazetted Order and find your specific supplier in the schedule before you price the next purchase order — and diarise the five-year expiry date, because the six-month termination notice is your only scheduled opportunity to influence whether the duty continues.

If you are a domestic manufacturer being undercut, the first question is not price evidence but standing: can you show support from producers representing more than 25% of Malaysian production of the like product? Everything else follows from that.

For which regulator licenses your sector, see the sector licence directory.