Canada’s pasta manufacturers have won a legal victory in their fight for protection from dumped Italian product.
The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned a controversial government tribunal decision last year which accepted that millions of pounds of dumped Italian pasta are coming into Canada but denied it was having an impact on domestic prices.
As a result of the court ruling, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal will have to hold more hearings on the issue and prepare a new ruling.
In the meantime, an anti-dumping duty of approximately 20 percent has been re-imposed until the tribunal issues a new decision.
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It is the first time a CITT judgment has been overturned by the court.
“We obviously are very pleased,” said Don Jarvis of the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association. “We obviously thought the ruling was wrong last year. We believe we can argue it should be different the next time.”
At issue is a complaint by the domestic pasta manufacturing industry that Italian pasta being dumped into Canada at prices lower than those charged in European markets are undermining the Canadian industry.
Last year, 20 million kilograms of Italian pasta were brought into Canada, a 25 percent increase over the previous year.
Wheat board support
Pasta manufacturers, supported by the Canadian Wheat Board from which they buy their durum, argued before the tribunal last year that the imports were taking market share and driving down prices.
The CITT ruled in May that while dumped pasta was coming into the country, it was not in quantities large enough to affect the Canadian companies.
The pasta companies appealed to the federal court and in a judgment issued Jan. 31, the court dismissed the CITT logic.
