12 May 2021

Building upon previous commitments from the Government, the Federal Budget 2021-22 includes measures to modernise and improve Australia’s trade system and maximise economic opportunities for traders.

Notable measures included in the Budget include:

Enhanced Trade and Strategic Capability

The Government will provide $198.2 million over four years from 2021-22 to support Australian exporters and businesses and advance Australia’s international interests.

Funding has been provided to:

• Maximise economic opportunities to diversify export markets.

• Increase Australia’s contribution to global efforts to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO) in order to strengthen the global rules-based trading system and enhance Australia's capability to engage in WTO dispute settlement as necessary.

• Expand Australia's advocacy and cooperation with partners internationally in pursuit of a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific.

• Sustain the Government’s overseas diplomatic network.

This measure complements other commitments from the Government to support trade diversification and resilience.

Simplified Trade System

Building on the JobMaker Plan — simplified trade system from the Budget 2020-21, the Government will provide an additional $37.4 million over three years from 2021-22 to support initiatives to:

• Modernise and improve Australia’s trade system.

• Streamline border services to reduce administrative complexity and improve the efficiency of international trade.

This will include a review of the regulatory framework and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems that impact cross-border trade.

Anti-Dumping Reforms

The Government will provide $5 million over four years from 2021-22 (and $1.4 million per year ongoing) as part of reforms to Australia’s Anti-Dumping regime that will make the system faster and easier to navigate for businesses.

Funding includes:

• $4.7 million for the Anti-Dumping Commission to provide importers and local manufacturers advice on whether goods are subject to anti-dumping duties.

• $300,000 to increase flexibility to apply different rates of duties for particular variants of imported goods, to ensure fairer outcomes for importers and consumers.

• $100,000 to support the International Trade Remedies Advisory Service, to assist small and medium enterprises with the anti-dumping merits review process.

The Government will also streamline existing processes by allowing eligible importers to claim a Tariff Concession Order based exemption from anti-dumping duties at the time they make their import declaration.

Import duties — automotive R&D tariff concession extended

The Government is supporting innovation in the automotive sector by extending the automotive research and development tariff concession for a further four years until 30 June 2025. The extension took effect on 1 April 2021.

Companies that are registered under the Automotive Transformation Scheme Act 2009 as at 31 December 2020 will continue to be able to claim a tariff concession of up to 5% on the value of imports used for automotive R&D in Australia.

See our full Federal Budget Analysis

Our team of experts has been busy developing insights and analysis that breaks down what the Budget means for Australian businesses and individuals.

Check out the full coverage of the Federal Budget 2021/22, which will continue to develop throughout the week as new insights and video content are published.

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