Case Law[2025] ZAGPPHC 243South Africa
Lucky Cement Limited v International Trade Administration Commission and Others (2022/048142) [2025] ZAGPPHC 243 (7 March 2025)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)
7 March 2025
Judgment
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## Lucky Cement Limited v International Trade Administration Commission and Others (2022/048142) [2025] ZAGPPHC 243 (7 March 2025)
Lucky Cement Limited v International Trade Administration Commission and Others (2022/048142) [2025] ZAGPPHC 243 (7 March 2025)
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sino date 7 March 2025
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
(GAUTENG
DIVISION, PRETORIA)
(1)
REPORTABLE: YES/NO
(2)
OF INTEREST TO OTHER JUDGES: YES/NO
(3)
REVISED:
Case
No: 2022-048142
In
the matter between:
LUCKY
CEMENT
LIMITED
Applicant
and
INTERNATIONAL
TRADE ADMINISTRATION COMMISSION
1
st
Respondent
MINISTER
OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND COMPETION
2
nd
Respondent
MINISTER
OF
FINANCE
3
rd
Respondent
CEMENT
AND CONCRETE SA NPC
4
th
Respondent
(
formally
The Concrete Institute NPC)
JUDGMENT
(The
matter was heard in open court and judgment was reserved. All the
pleadings in the matter are uploaded onto the electronic
file of the
matter on CaseLines. The Reserved Judgment is uploaded onto CaseLines
and the date of uploading onto CaseLines is deemed
to be the date of
the Judgment)
BEFORE:
HOLLAND-MUTER J:
[1]
It is a universal trend that governments, local trade and producer
organisations continuously strive to expand the export of
local goods
to foreign markets and to introduce local manufactured goods to
consumers worldwide and to create export opportunities
for its
citizens. This fosters economic growth and income to stimulate local
development, to raise income and promote investment
in the Republic
of South Africa. Foreign countries on the other hand seek to promote
similar opportunities to export its local
goods and produce to the
Republic to achieve the same outcome.
[2]
The above trade trends necessitated the import and export markets be
regulated to inter alia protect local producers from foreign
export
from
dumping
goods in the Republic.
LEGAL
FRAME WORK:
[3]
South Africa, in 1914, was the fourth country in the world to adopt
anti-dumping legislation although it had already taken countervailing
action against subsidized sugar imports as early as 1903. The Board
of Trade and Industry was set up in 1921 to deal
inter alia
with
dumped and subsidized imports. From this early start the current
legal position prevent dumping of substandard goods and to
protect
local manufacturers the current legal frame work developed to the
present network of legislation in operation. See
Guide to
International Anti-Dumping Practice; Bienen Brink and Ciuriak
published by Kluwer Law International 2013 p 519.
[4]
Dumping
(see definition below
) in the Republic of South
Africa, is regulated by the following interlocking legislation:
·
The International Trade Administration Act, 71 od
2002 (the “
ITA Act”);
·
The Anti-Dumping Regulations;
·
The Board on Tariffs and Trades Act 107 of 1996
(“
BTT Act”)
;
·
The Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 (“
Customs
Act”);
and
·
Party to the World Trade Organisation (“
WTO”)
and WTO Agreements including the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (“
GATT”),
and
·
The WTO Agreement on Implementation of Article VI
of GATT known as the Anti-Dumping Agreement.
[5]
The legislator enacted the
International Trade Administration Act,
71 of 2002 (“ITA Act”)
to establish the
International
Trade Administration Commission (“ITAC”)
which
provides for the functions of the Commission and to regulate its
procedures; to provide for implementation of certain aspects
of the
Southern Africa Customs Union
(“SACU”)
and
to control the continued import and export of goods and amendment of
custom duties and related aspects.
[6]
Dumping
means the introduction of goods into the commerce of
the Republic or the Common Customs Area at an export price
contemplated in
section 32(2)(a) of the ITA Act that is less than the
normal value, as defined in section 32(2) of those goods.
[7]
Dumping has the potential to harm the domestic industry, as it gives
the imported goods an unfair advantage over those locally
produced.
For this reason, both international and domestic law provide for the
imposition of “
anti-dumping”
duties to
neutralise the advantage.
[8]
There are international rules regarding “anti-dumping”
which are contained in Article VI of the General Agreement
on Tariffs
and Trade
(“GATT”)
and the World Trade
Organisation Agreement
(“WTO Agreement”)
on the
Implementation of Article VI of GATT 1994. International treaties
become law in South Africa when enacted into local law
to be of
force. Although the WTO Agreement and GATT has not been enacted into
local law, with the passing of the ITA Act and the
creation of ITAC
and the promulgation of the Anti-Dumping Regulations effect was given
to the agreements and treaties to be binding
on South Africa in
international law. See
Progress Machines CC v South African
Revenue Services 2008(2) SA 13 (SCA) par [5].
THE
ITA ACT AND THE BTT ACT:
[9]
Section 26(1)(c)(i) of the ITA Act allows persons to apply to the
ITAC for the amendment of custom duties with regard to anti-dumping
duties. This implies the existence of original anti-dumping duties
now applied to be amended. Section 64 (2) of the ITA Act and
the
Schedule 2 of the Act has the effect that anti-dumping duties are
currently regulated by section 4 of the BTT Act.
[10]
Section 4(2) of BTT empowers the Minister of Trade, after receiving a
report or recommendation from the Board on Tariffs and
Trade (“BTT”
now ITAC), to refer the recommendation back to BTT/ITAC for
reconsideration or if the Minister of Trade
accepts the
recommendation, to request the Minister of Finance to amend the
relevant Schedule to the Customs Act.
THE
CUSTOMS ACT:
[11]
Anti-dumping duties are contained in Schedule 2 of the Customs Act.
The Minister of Finance is empowered by section 56(1) and
55(2)(a) of
the Customs Act to amend existing anti-dumping duties or impose new
anti-dumping duties to be published in the Government
Gazette
(
“
Gazette”)
.
[12]
Section 56(2) of the Customs Act empowers the Minister of Finance to
withdraw, reduce or amend existing anti-dumping duties.
THE
ANTI-DUMPING REGULATIONS:
[13]
Part C of the Anti-Dumping Regulations deals with the procedures to
investigate anti-dumping duties and Part D deals with reviews
of
anti-dumping duties. This includes interim reviews, new shipper
reviews and sunset reviews. The current application concerns
a
sunset
review
.
[14]
Regulation 53.1 provides that imposed Anti-Dumping duties will remain
effective for a period of five (5) years not exceeding
five years
from imposition or its last review. Regulation 53.2 provides for
instances where a sunset review is initiated before
the imposed
anti-dumping duty lapses, the imposed anti-dumping duty will remain
in force until the sunset review is finalised.
SUNSET
REVIEW: (Brief summary):
[15]
ITAC has to publish a notice of the imminent lapsing of an
anti-dumping duty in the Gazette approximate six (6) months prior
to
then lapsing thereof, inviting the interested parties to request a
sunset review
. The SACU Industry is required to
indicate whether it intends to request a sunset review.
[16]
Regulation 54.4 contemplates that the SACU industry may request for
the maintaining (retention) of the anti-dumping duty and
the
applicant for a sunset review must
prima facie
show that the
removal of that duty is likely to lead to a continuation or
recurrence of injurious dumping.
[17]
Should ITAC decide to initiate a sunset review it must publish a
notice in the Gazette prior to the lapsing of the relevant
duty.
[18]
Regulation 56 specifies that a sunset review consist of a single
investigation phase and that ITAC may verify such information
considered necessary. A sunset review does not require ITAC to
publish a preliminary report as is a prerequisite for an original
investigation. Regulation 43 requires ITAC to inform all interested
parties of the essential facts under consideration in the final
determination and invite comments. Regulation 54 prescribes the
information ITAC should consider in a sunset review and Regulation
59
entitles ITAC to make a recommendation that “
may result in
the withdrawal, amendment or reconsideration of the original
anti-dumping duty”.
DUMPING:
[19]
The WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement describes the practice of dumping as:
“
a product is to be considered as being dumped, i e
introduced into the commerce of another country at less than its
normal value,
if the export price of the product exported from one
country to another is less than the comparable price, in the ordinary
course
of trade, for the like product destined for consumption in the
exporting country”.
[20]
The ITA Act defines “
export price
” and
“
normal value
” as:
·
“
export price”
in terms of section 32(2)(a) means the price actually paid or payable
for goods for export, net of all taxes, discounts and rebates
actually granted and directly related to that sale; and
·
“
normal value”
in respect of any goods, in terms of section 32(2)(b) means:
·
(i) the comparable price paid or payable in the
ordinary course trade for like goods intended for consumption in the
exporting country
of country of origin; or,
·
(ii) in the absence of information on a price
contemplated in subparagraph (i) either:
·
(aa) the constructed cost of production of the
goods in the country of origin when destined for domestic
consumption, plus a reasonable
addition for selling, general and
administrative costs and for profit; or
·
(bb) the highest comparable price of the like
product when exported to an appropriate third or surrogate country,
as long as the
price is representative”.
[21]
The inference is that dumping occurs when goods are sold into the
export market at a lower price than the identical locally
produced or
manufactured goods are sold in the domestic market.
[22]
The margin of dumping is the difference between the normal value and
the export price after adjustments have been made for
any differences
affecting price comparability. Regulation 11 of the Anti-Dumping
Regulations sets the manner in which adjustments
should be made. It
provides for a comparison of normal value and export price to be made
in each case on its merit for differences
which affect price
justifying adjustments considering (i) conditions and terms of trade,
(ii) taxation, (iii) levels of trade,
(iv) physical characteristics,
and (v) quantities.
[23]
Adjustments should be requested from the parties’ original
response to complete the relevant questionnaires and must
be
substantiated and verified. This leads to ITAC to determine the
margin of dumping for each individual case.
FACTUAL
MATRIX:
[24]
The ITAC initiated the original investigation into the alleged
dumping of Portland cement originating from the Islamic Republic
of
Pakistan (“
Pakistan”)
following an
application lodged on behalf of SACU Industry during 2014.
[25]
The original investigation by ITAC resulted in a recommendation to
the Minister of Trade to impose an anti-dumping duty of
14,29% on the
imported cement from Pakistan. It is not necessary for the
adjudication of the present dispute to dissect the original
recommendation but to conclude that the imposed anti-dumping duty was
made final by publication thereof on 17 December 2015 in
Notice R 246
in Gazette 39527.
[26]
Prior to the lapse of the 5 year period set for the initial
anti-dumping duty, the fourth Respondent lodged an application
for a
sunset review. ITAC initiated a sunset review on 11 December 2020.
ITAC set a deadline for interested parties to comment
by 19 January
2021,
RESPONSE
BY LUCKY CEMENT:
[27]
Lucky Cement, like all foreign manufacturers of the subject product
from Pakistan, received a questionnaire from ITAC to complete.
Lucky
Cement requested an extension to complete the questionnaire and ITAC
granted the request and Lucky Cement submitted the completed
questionnaire on 2 February 2021.
[28]
ITAC issued a
deficiency letter
to Lucky Cement on 15 February
2021 and Lucky Cement responded on 22 February 2021 submitting its
Deficiency Resubmission
,
by resubmitting its first
exporter submission amended and supplemented in light of ITAC’s
queries and request for clarification.
ITAC verified the information
supplied in the questionnaire between 24 and 26 March 2021 and
thereafter issued Lucky Cement with
the
Verification Report
.
[29]
Lucky Cement again provided a comprehensive verification explaining
its production process, storage of products, packaging,
accounting
system and its sales of cement. Lucky Cement made adjustment
proposals to ITAC to consider.
[30]
ITAC sent its verification report to XA International Trade (“XA”)
who acted as Lucky Cement’s advisor. The
Verification Report
stated that Lucky Cement’s proposed adjustments to the normal
value and the SACU export price of its
cement has been verified and
found to be correct. The verification process however does not
constitute a decision of determination
by ITAC.
[31]
ITAC issued an ‘
essential facts letter’
on 28 July
2021 to Lucky Cement explaining that ITAC calculated a dumping margin
of 93.62% and was considering making a final determination
that Lucky
Cement be subjected to an anti-dumping duty of 25% (based on the
lesser duty rule). ITAC informed Lucky Cement that
ITAC has decided
that at the expiry of the existing anti-dumping duty on the product
imported from Pakistan, the adjusted anti-dumping
duty of 25% will be
imposed after Gazetted by the Minister of Finance.
THE
LESSER DUTY RULE:
[32]
Regulation 17 of the Anti-Dumping Regulations provides that ITAC
shall consider applying the ‘
lesser duty rule’
if
both the corresponding importer and exporter have fully cooperated.
[33]
The lesser duty rule is the anti-dumping duty to be imposed at the
lesser margin of dumping or the margin of injury and which
is deemed
to be sufficient to remove the injury caused by the dumping.
[34]
Article 9.1 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement states that it is desirable
that the duty be less than the margin of dumping if such
lesser duty
would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry. It
is custom that in South Africa the lesser duty
rule determines that
should the calculated anti-dumping exceed 25%, a maximum anti-dumping
duty of 25% be imposed irrespective
whether the calculation arrives
at more than 25%.
THE
FINAL DETERMINATION BY ITAC:
[35]
ITAC made a final determination after hearing the oral address by
Lucky Cement and verified the questionnaire completed by
Lucky
Cement. ITAC allowed the following adjustments to normal value i e
(i) packaging costs and (ii) transport costs.
[36]
ITAC, in making its final determination, did not allow the following
proposed adjustments to normal value namely (i) cost of
payment
terms; (ii) sales commission, (iii) transportation of coal, (iv)
power cost, (v) sales tax, (vi) federal excise duty, (vii)
general
sales and distribution, (viii) selling and administration expenses
and (ix) corporate tax.
[37]
ITAC made a final determination to allow the following adjustments to
the export price (i) packaging costs, (ii) sales commission,
(iii)
transport and handling costs and (v) taxation.
[38]
ITAC disallowed adjustments to (i) export price, (ii) transportation
of coal, (iii) power costs, and (iv) selling and administration
costs.
[39]
Taking into account the above allowed and disallowed items, ITAC made
a final determination that the margin of dumping on the
cement
imported by Lucky Cement from Pakistan was calculated 93,62%, subject
to the lesser duty rule.
[40]
It is within the discretion of ITAC to allow or disallow certain
items when making a final determination of the margin of dumping.
A
court will be reluctant to interfere with a decision by an organ if
the organ exercised its discretion in good faith and considering
all
relevant issues. A court will not second-guess the organ’s
evaluation, even if the court would have reached a different
view on
the matter if the exercising of the discretion by the organ was done
with the necessary competence finding on the facts.
See
Bosch Home
Appliances (Pty) Ltd v International Trade and Administration
Commission of South Africa 2021 JDR 0041 (GP) at par [69.1.3].
ACCEPTANCE
OF ITAC’s RECOMMENDATION AND THE AMENDMENT OF SCHEDULE 2 OF THE
CUSTOMS ACT:
[41]
ITAC made a final determination after considering all inputs by stake
holders including Lucky Cement and forwarded such determination
to
the Minister of Trade for approval. Should the Minister agree with
the determination, it is forwarded to the Minister of Finance
to
amend Schedule 2 to the Customs Act by gazetting the recommendation
to give effect thereto. The Minister of Trade can also refer
the
determination back to ITAC if not satisfied with it.
[42]
It is not necessary for the adjudication of the dispute before the
court to dwell into detail regarding the further route of
the
determination to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) to have
Schedule 2 amended and subsequent introduction thereof.
The effect of
publication of the Tax Law Amendment Act 2022 confirmed the
adjustment of the anti-dumping duty levied on the cement
imported
from Pakistan by Lucky Cement.
[43]
ITAC decided on 30 November 2021 to recommend that an anti-dumping
duty of 25% be imposed on cement manufactured and imported
from
Pakistan and this decision was recorded in its final 2021
Determination Report. This final determination was done after ITAC
issued the essential facts letter granting Lucky Cement the
opportunity to respond thereto and make further oral submissions
which
was heard by ITAC on 12 October 2021. It was after hearing the
oral submissions that the recommendation was made to amend the
existing
anti-dumping duty and to adjust it as recommended in final
determination.
[44]
The Minister of Trade accepted ITAC’s recommendation of the 25%
anti-dumping duty and recommended such to the Minister
of Finance who
published the amended recommendation of 25% on cement manufactured or
imported from Pakistan by amending Part 1
of Schedule no 2 of the
Customs and Excise Act in Government Gazette Notice R 2143 to provide
for the amended anti-dumping duty.
RELIEF
SOUGHT BY THE APPLICANT:
[45]
The relief sought by Lucky Cement as per Notice of Motion is: (i) to
review and set aside the final determination by the First
Respondent
and recommendation that the anti-dumping duty of 25% imposed on
cement manufactured or produced by the applicant as
contained in the
final investigation report No 673 of 30 November 2021; (ii) to review
and set aside and declaring invalid the
decision of the second
respondent to implement the aforementioned final determination by the
first respondent and subsequent request
to the third respondent to
amend Part 1of Schedule 2 to the Customs and Excise Act and (iii)
reviewing and setting aside and declaring
invalid, the decision by
the third respondent to impose the 25% anti-dumping duty on cement
manufactured or produced by the applicant.
[46]
The decision taken by ITAC, the Minister of Trade and the Minister of
Finance are administrative actions capable of review
in terms of
Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 3 of 2000 (
PAJA
). See
International Trade Administration Commission v South African Tyre
Manufacturers Conference (Pty) Ltd
[2011] ZASCA 137
par [40] (23
September 2011).
It is not necessary to venture onto the review
of executive action (by the Ministers) under the principle of
legality.
[47]
It follows that should the decision and recommendations of ITAC be
reviewable, so too must the Minister’s decision be
reviewable.
This is because the legality of the Minister’s decision is
dependent upon the legality of the decision of ITAC.
[48]
The corollary also applies. Should the decision and recommendations
of ITAC not be reviewable under PAJA, the decision of the
Minister is
equally not reviewable. There is no support of a contention by the
applicant that should the recommendation of ITAC
not be reviewed, the
decision of the Minister remains reviewable. The Minister’s
decision will stand or fall by the outcome
of the review of the
decision and recommendations of ITAC.
[49]
Lucky Cement’s complaint against ITAC is about how ITAC
calculated the margin of dumping. It contends that ITAC ‘
misdirected
itself’
in refusing to allow, or incorrectly
calculating certain adjustments to the normal value and export price.
Set differently, Lucky
Cement argues that ITAC’s final
determination was ‘
irregular’
because ITAC
made material mistakes of fact and failed to take into account
relevant considerations by refusing to allow the following
adjustments sought by Lucky Cement to the
normal value
of its cement namely
sales tax; Federal excise duty; cost of
payment terms, sales commission; general sales and administrative
expenses; corporate tax;
coal transport; power cost; packaging and
level of trade.
These irregularities, if proved, will render the
recommendation of ITAC reviewable.
[50]
Lucky Cement further contends that ITAC committed further
irregularities when refusing to allow the following adjustments to
the export price of the cement namely cost of payment terms; general
selling and administrative expenses; coal transport; power
cost and
levels of trade.
[51]
Lucky Cement contended that ITAC committed reviewable irregularities
when it refused to allow certain of the adjustments sought
by Lucky
Cement resulting in material mistakes of fact. Lucky Cement further
contends that ITAC failed to take relevant considerations
into
account. When scrutinising the evidence (answering affidavit) by ITAC
it is clear that it considered
all
proposed
considerations made by Lucky Cement but did not approve all
proposals. This in my view does not amount to an irregularity
or
material mistake by ITAC.
[52]
There is no irregularity when considering all proposals and
thereafter refuse to allow certain proposed considerations.
I
could not find any proof that ITAC consideration amounts to irregular
action. There is no evidence that ITAC’s action was
procedurally unfair, materially influenced by error of law,
considering irrelevant considerations or ignoring relevant
considerations.
There is no ground for review made out that the
recommendations by ITAC towards the Minister of Trade was arbitrarily
or capriciously
reached. The converse is clear from the
recommendations that ITAC considered all relevant proposals and
allowed Lucky Cement further
to make oral submissions after
completing the questionnaire. In my view the application falls short
of the requirements in section
6 of PAJA for a review.
[53]
Although South Africa has a Competition Tribunal that may review
Competition Commission determinations; a Consumer Affairs
Tribunal
and a special customs court that may review decisions of
Commissioners and Ministers, there is no such tribunal for
administrative
review of decisions of Commissioners and Ministers,
all such judicial reviews must be pursued through the High Court. See
South Africa Judicial Review of Trade Remedies in South Africa by
G Brink in Global Trade and Customs Journal Volume 20, June 3.
Lucky
Cement approached the correct forum for review, but that does not
result in finding in favour of Lucky Cement.
[54]
ITAC contended that if the focus for the dispute to be adjudicated
was on the
three largest adjustments
sought by Lucky
Cement, namely ITAC’s refusal to include sales tax, federal
excise duty and the packaging adjustment, the
margin of injury would
be such that if these proposals were allowed, these adjustments would
have a significant impact on the margin
of dumping and would reduce
the calculated margin of dumping from 93,62% to 10,99%. This would
result in an imposed anti-dumping
duty on Lucky Cement of less than
half of the imposed 25% imposed in terms of the lesser duty rule. The
applicant and other parties
to the dispute agreed to this approach in
the respective heads of arguments and oral arguments presented to
court.
[55]
It is trite that the calculation of anti-dumping duties is an
inherently technical exercise involving the appraisal of facts
against a particular conceptual framework. It requires specialised
expertise and for this reason the task is entrusted to a specialised
institution. See
Chairman, Board of Tariffs and Trade, and Others
v Brenco Inc and Others
2001 (4) SA 511
(SCA) at par [17].
ITAC
is a specialised institution vested with a discretion when
considering and calculating anti-dumping duties.
[56]
The court will be slow to interfere with ITAC’s discretion
because ITAC as specialised institution is the specialist
regulator
and best placed to undertake the required analysis applying the
criteria in Regulation 11 in each individual case. See
Bato Star
Fishing (Pty) Ltd v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and
Others
[2004] ZACC 15
;
2004 (4) SA 490
(CC) at par
[48]
.
The court will be
reluctant to intervene and replace ITAC’s consideration of the
criteria merely with its own decision only
because Lucky Cement
complains that ITAC was wrong in its assessment.
[57]
In
Dumani v Nair and Another
2013 (2) SA 274
(SCA) at par [32]
it
was held that “
In sum, a court may interfere where a
functionary exercises a competence to decide facts, but in doing so
fails to get the facts
right in rendering a decision, provided the
facts are material, were established, and meet a threshold of
objective verifiability.
That is to say, an error as to material
facts that are not objectively contestable is a reviewable error. The
exercise of judgment
by the functionary in considering the facts,
such as the assessment of contested evidence or the weighing of
evidence, is not reviewable
even if the court would have reached a
different view on these matters were it vested with the original
competence to find the
facts”.
[58]
For Lucky Cement to succeed on a mistake of fact ground of review, it
had to point out an established verifiable and uncontested
fact that
ITAC got wrong. Lucky Cement failed to do so.
[59]
Lucky Cement has to show that ITAC acted
unlawfully
and not
merely reached a wrong conclusion. Lucky Cement has to make out a
proper case on review and meet the requirements for a
review.
[60]
It is clear from the final submissions that ITAC refused to allow
these three items because the proposals did not meet the
criteria in
Regulation 11.2 because it was not property claimed in the initial
response as required by regulation11.2. ITAC further
held that the
sales tax and federal excise duties were not demonstrated to be
directly related to the sale under consideration.
It cannot be argued
that ITAC failed to consider relevant proposals.
[61]
It is clearly stated in the final report that the adjustment was not
substantiated in the exporter’s response to the
questionnaire.
ITAC held that the sales tax and federal excise duty are not borne by
Lucky Cement but is collected from the customer
and paid to the
Government treasury. It is therefore clear that ITAC did not make an
error on these proposals and did not make
a finding on incorrect
facts. This aspect is therefore not reviewable.
[62]
ITAC further contended that there was no mistake of law in
considering the provisions of Regulation 11.2 together with
Regulation
11.1. The court is satisfied that ITAC computed the
calculations as required by the regulation. Lucky Cement’s
argument that
regulation 11.2 does not require it to request an
adjustment expressly but it is permissible for it to do so impliedly.
This argument
fails because regulation 11,1 and 11,2 is clear. The
requestor must complete the questionnaire in detail as requested and
there
is no authority that it is permissible to allow a person to
rely on so-called impliedly request to allow an adjustment.
FAILURE
TO TAKE RELEVANT CONSIDERATIONS INTO ACCOUNT:
[63]
Lucky Cement contends that ITAC failed to take relevant
considerations into account. But for this vague allegation, noting
was found in the pleadings or the heads of arguments to support this
contention. In view of the vagueness of the contention, the
court is
unable to find that this allegation is a proper ground for review.
PACKAGING:
[64]Lucky
Cement claimed an adjustment for packaging costs which ITAC allowed.
The adjustment was initially calculated to be PKR0,07/
ton. This was
later established to be a calculation in error. Lucky Cement did not
bring this error to the attention of ITAC during
the public
participation process to enable ITAC to correct the calculation.
[65]
The error was found not to be material but ITAC revisited the
calculation and corrected the packaging costs to be PKR558,07/ton
and
this was the precise adjustment Lucky Cement says in the founding
affidavit para 99.2 that this is what was claimed.
[66]
The price disadvantage was recalculated and the Commission decided to
apply the lesser duty rule because the calculation was
still more
than 25%, as claimed by Lucky Cement in the founding affidavit.
[67]
Lucky Cement tried to change its case in the replying affidavit
contending now that the packaging adjustment should have been
calculated at PKR609,79/ton instead of the admitted calculation at
PKR558,07/ton as in the founding affidavit.
[68]
A party has to formulate its case in its founding affidavit and
cannot attempt to change its case in its replying affidavit.
See
Betlane v Shelly Court CC
2011 (1) SA 368
(CC) at par [29]
where
it was held that ‘
It is trite that one ought to stand or
fall by one’s notice of motion and the averments made in one’s
founding affidavit.
A case cannot be made out in the replying
affidavit for the first time”.
[69]
Lucky Cement has to stand with the case as formulated in its founding
affidavit. The mistake made with the calculation is further
not
material and does not alter the imposed anti-dumping duty. The margin
of error as contended by Lucky Cement amounts to a deduction
of
12,62% from the calculated margin of 93,62% resulting in a calculated
anti-dumping duty of 81% which is much higher than the
imposed
anti-dumping duty of 25% considering the application of the lesser
duty rule as applied in this matter. The mistake is
non-material and
does not warrant reviewing ITAC’ recommendation to the Minister
of Trade and subsequent amendment of the
Schedule. The application on
this ground must fail.
THE
REMAINING ADJUSTMENTS:
[70]
It is clear from the heads of arguments on behalf of Lucky Cement
that only the above three adjustments be addressed for adjudication
by the court. This amounted to Lucky Cement abandoning this portion
of its case. The court was similarity addressed so during the
hearing
of the matter. There are no facts before the court to consider to
what extent the other adjustments would have impacted
on the margin
of dumping as calculated and it would amount to speculation what
impact it may have had on the margin of injury.
This aspect needs no
further attention.
ORDER:
[71]
The court is of the view that after considering all the evidence and
arguments presented, the applicant has failed to make
out a case for
review and the application is dismissed with costs.
COSTS:
[72]
Costs are in the discretion of the court and the normal rule is the
costs will follow success. I am of the view that the respondents
were
successful and should not be out of pocket. There is however no
reason why a punitive cost order be granted. The appropriate
scale
will be on a party-and-party scale including the costs of two counsel
where appointed, the scale to be Scale C.
HOLLAND-MUTER
J
Judge
of the Pretoria High Court
Matter
was heard in open court in the Third Court on 8 & 9 October 2024
Reserved
judgment was handed down by uploading the judgment onto the
electronic file of the matter on 7 March 2025.
Post
Script:
I would like to thank all the parties
for the professional way in which the matter was argued and the very
helpful heads of arguments
which were presented. It was of great
assistance in preparing judgment.
APPEARANCES:
Applicant:
Adv
M Chaskalson SC
Adv
E Webber
First
Respondent:
Adv
M Gwala SC
Adv
I Cloete
Second
Respondent:
Adv
P J Pretorius SC
Adv
N January
Third
Respondent
:
No
appearance
Fourth
Respondent:
Adv
F Snyckers SC
sino noindex
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