The EIT helps UK authorities determine whether applying duties would lead to costs for the UK economy that are disproportionate to the benefits for UK producers. To clarify, if a duty is applied, it may benefit UK producers of goods, but will it disadvantage the consumer by making the goods more expensive and thus affect the economy? 

Our starting position for the EIT is that dumping and countervailing measures are in the UK’s economic interest. We don’t have the same presumption for safeguards. 

Anti-dumping and safeguard duties are trade remedies used to protect domestic industries, but they serve different purposes. 

Anti-dumping and countervailing measures are imposed to counteract the negative effects of dumping, which occurs when a foreign producer sells goods in an importing country at a price lower than its home market or below the cost of production. These duties are applied after an investigation confirms that dumping is causing, or threatening to cause, material injury to the domestic industry. They typically last for five years but can be reviewed and extended. 

Safeguard duties are imposed to protect domestic industries from a sudden surge in imports that cause, or threaten to cause, injury to UK industries due to unfair trading practices or unforeseen import increases. These duties apply to all imports of the affected products, regardless of the source country. They typically last up to four years but can be extended under certain conditions. 

What is looked at when determining the Economic Interest Test 

Who would be affected by a measure? 

• Which consumers? 
• Which businesses? 
• How important are they to the UK economy? (Number of employees, turnover, etc.) 

How would they be affected? 

• Would they gain or lose from a measure? 
• How big might these impacts be? 

Where would the impacts fall? 

• Would certain groups be more affected? 
• Would certain places be more affected? 

How would a measure affect competition? 

• Would the number of businesses change? 
• Would market shares change? 
• Would consumer choices be affected? 

Are there any other relevant matters? 

• Product-specific issues such as environmental factors? 

How can you contribute to the Economic interest test 

If you produce or import a product we are investigating, you must register as an interested party on the relevant case. You can do this on our online case platform (Trade Remedies Service). 

If you are a business or consumer who buys a product we are investigating, or if you make products used in its production process, you can complete an online survey to provide evidence for the investigation. 

Factsheet Interested Parties Information (publishing.service.gov.uk) 

Details of current and past investigations can be found here: 

TRA Investigations - Trade Remedies Service - GOV.UK (trade-remedies.service.gov.uk)