Anti-Dumping Bill coming to protect consumers from unfair trade practices – Guyana Chronicle

IMAGINE yourself as an entrepreneur who sells a bottle of water for $100; everything is going well, and you are making a profit.
One day though, another person shows up and they’re selling the same bottle of water, but for only half of your price. How do you feel about that? Maybe you feel like you’ve just been dumped.
To remedy such situations, the government will be working on a new legislation – the ‘Anti-Dumping Bill’ – this year to safeguard local consumers against cheap and substandard products.

‘Dumping’ happens a lot in global trade. It’s when a company exports a product at a lower price than what it charges locally. Guyana imports foreign goods and exports domestic produced goods to countries all over the world. Free and fair global trade is good for everyone since it fosters healthy competition, creates jobs, and stimulates innovation.
But sometimes, foreign companies try to gain an unfair advantage in other markets.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, recently said that this new bill will protect against unfair trade practices and “protect our economy from bad goods.”
“…a lot of dumping is taking place at the international market where expired products, substandard products are being dumped into third world countries,” Nandlall said.

According to him, this bill will protect local companies that have long been asking for such legislation to be put in place to safeguard themselves and their consumers.
“They’ve been asking for it for a while now because they have to compete. Our local manufacturers have to compete with a lot of mass-produced, substandard goods and also it affects our population as well because there are manufacturing standards,” the Attorney General lamented.

Meanwhile, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Timothy Tucker, in an invited comment, said the bill has the full support of the government.
Tucker said that the chamber has always been supportive of anti-dumping regulations, and they welcome such a move by the government to safeguard consumers.

“We look forward to the government enacting this bill as soon as possible, so that our local manufacturers can actually compete against real products and Guyanese consumers can actually enjoy safety and reliability in the products that they’re purchasing,” Tucker added.