A draft report into Australia's anti-dumping laws has recommended an overhaul because there would be more benefits to the broader community from having the goods imported than the current benefits enjoyed by the small group protected by the import rules.

There are already fears about what this could mean for agricultural industries which compete with heavily subsidised imports, particularly horticulture.

Australia's anti-dumping rules are not unlike those in place in most other nations we trade with, and are endorsed by the World Trade Organisation.

It is for these reasons that the Productivity Commission acknowledges anti-dumping legislation is an accepted part of the multi-lateral trading environment and removing it would trigger perceptions of unfairness should the system be done away with.

That said, though, the commission found the anti-dumping system provides some benefits to a "small and decreasing range of import competing industries" and these benefits come at the "expense of downstream industries and other users of goods concerned".

The commission fears keeping them in their current form could have adverse effects for Australia's overall economic performance.

The commission does conclude that some form of the current system should be retained, if only for fairness reasons because other countries have similar systems in place, but makes it clear it does not endorse the status quo.

"The current system has a number of significant deficiencies," the report says.

"…there are opportunities to reduce the costs of the system and thereby strengthen the political economy case for its retention."

The commission suggests imposing a "public interest" test to judge the merits of goods arriving here which would previously have been considered "dumped", to determine the benefits of the imports to downstream users.

The Federal Government would not comment on the draft report, however Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, did urge farmers to read the report and relay any concerns to the commission before it completes its final paper.