The court ruled that anti-dumping duties were improperly imposed due to reliance on internal sales prices between related parties, violating statutory and international law requirements.

Lee Swee Seng JCA:

[1] In the field of international trade, States that are members of the World Trade Organisation ("WTO") pledge themselves to be fair to other States whilst promoting their own domestic markets. It is an example of a man, left to his own devices, has a way of gravitating towards promoting his own interest at the expense of others. In international trade, States recognise this danger operating at the international arena where one country and its members may dump its products in another at a price lower than the price in its own home market so as to injure the local market of another country.

[2] Price is no longer what a buyer is prepared to pay for a seller's product. If one sells one's product in another country below the price of that comparable product and trade in one's own country then that is dumping of the product in the importing country. "Dumping" means the importation of merchandise into Malaysia at less than its normal value as sold in the domestic market of the exporting country. If the relevant authorities can show that there is injury caused to the domestic market in the importing country, then anti-dumping duties may be imposed on the exporter for the export of the product to the importing country.

[3] The mischief addressed is to level the playing field for a fair competition such that no one would be able to gain an unfair advantage over another in world trade and in the process cause or threaten to cause a material injury to or to retard the growth of the domestic industry in another member Country.

[4] Whilst the concept is easy to understand, the mechanics and methodology of its calculation are more complicated and as they say the devil is in the details. In the present dispute, it is over the import of Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar Products ("Rebar") to Malaysia by Malaysian importers from a company in Turkey. Some members of the Malaysian Steel Association ("MSA") were aggrieved with the sale of the Rebar in our domestic market from Turkey which they said were sold at a price below the "normal value" of the product in Turkey and thus Dumping in nature.

[5] The problem here is that the producer in Turkey did not export direct to importers in Malaysia but through its wholly-owned subsidiary in Turkey. At the core of the complaint is the calculation of the "export price" because the difference between that and the "normal value" of the product would be the "Dumping Margin" if the "normal value" exceeds the "export price".

[6] The relevant statute providing for this imposition of Anti-Dumping Duties is the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993 ("the Act") and the Regulations made thereunder and our international commitments under the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement ("AD Agreement"). The remedy in the form of duties imposed would level the competition and disincentivise the exporter from trying to injure the domestic market of any importing country with respect to the same or comparable merchandise.

Decision Of The Finance Minister

[7] Before the Finance Minister publishes in the gazette the relevant Order for the imposition of the Anti-Dumping Duties on specific merchandise for a specific period of time, there is first an investigation to be undertaken by the Investigating Authority ("IA") under the Act which may investigate pursuant to a complaint by the local producers in the importing country and in this case, Malaysia.

[8] This elaborate process may involve the hauling and trawling of hundreds of thousands of trade entries in the records kept by the exporter to Malaysia as well as the answering of the questionnaires furnished by the IA. The findings of the IA are published in the form of a Preliminary Determination before a Final Determination on dumping and injury is made.

[9] As the calculation of the "export price" requires the taking into consideration of various cost factors and making it comparable where trade and ex-price from the factory is concerned, the IA is obliged to