The Legislative Evolution of Section 51 of Pakistan's Anti-Dumping Duties Act, 2015: A Doctrinal Analysis of the 2022 And 2025 Amendments

Abstract

Since its enactment, the AD regime of Pakistan has been formalized in the 2015 Act of AD Duties (Act No. XIV of 2015), in section 51 of that Act, the provision of exemption has been crossed three times by the 2019 Finance Act, hence, fundamentally by the 2022 Act of AD Duties (Amendment) (Act No. XXIX of 2022), and eventually, by the 2025 Act of AD Duties (Amendment) (Act No. XXX of 2025).

The existing body of literature on AD laws in Pakistan has usually separately treated both the 2022 and 2025 Acts as discrete events and has mainly depended on media coverage of the 2025 Act instead of the focal cabinet and parliamentary records. No documented research has yet reestablished the two amendments as an inclusive sustainable legislative rectification, identified their mutual origin in the exemption dispute of Gwadar Airport, or established a clause-oriented comparison of section 51 across its 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2025 iterations. The current research fills this void.

Based on the fundamental regulatory stuff, including the 2022 gazetted amendment, we may argue that the Statement of Objects and Reasons presented before the National Assembly and cabinet and parliamentary data regarding the 2025 bill, the article rebuilds the section’s 51 regulatory history and clarifies the policy and regulatory considerations that go through each amendment. It offers a clause-by-clause comparison at the statutory level of the provisions across their successive versions, facilitated by a regulatory time frame, an assessment of the interest groups, functional-level illustrations, and an evaluation of the focal regulatory challenges stemming from such amendments. By integrating the whole statutory evolution of section 51 and legal history into sole doctrinal research, the study offers a convincing reference for customs leadership, academia, policy formulators, and practitioners, while significantly contributing towards a richer comprehension of the establishment and functions of the AD regulatory framework across Pakistan.

References

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National Assembly of Pakistan. (2022). Legislative record: The Anti-Dumping Duties (Amendment) Act, 2022 (Act No. XXIX of 2022). https://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/documents/62e28d0a13c7d_383.pdf

National Assembly of Pakistan. (2025). Legislative record: The Anti-Dumping Duties (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. XXX of 2025). https://na.gov.pk

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WIPO Lex. (n.d.). The Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2000 (Ordinance No. LXV of 2000), Pakistan. https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text/497257