NEW DELHI: In a move to protect the industry from cheap imports, India has introduced changes in the process and levy of anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguard duties.
As per the budget for FY22, with effect from July 1, the final findings in cases of reviewing anti-dumping and countervailing duty are to be issued at least three months before expiry of the duty. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies under the commerce and industry ministry issues these findings and recommends the duty to the finance ministry, which takes the final call.
“This is a clarification to streamline the process and give adequate time to the finance ministry to issue the required notifications,” said an official.
Countervailing duties are additional levies to counter subsidised imports while anti-dumping duties are against a specific producer, exporter or country.
Separately, to protect against the misuse of free trade pacts through circumvention, the budget proposes that duty will be imposed from the date of initiation of anti-circumvention investigation and for up to five years at a time.
“Earlier, this duration was not up to five years and the duty could be imposed for a lesser period as well,” the official added. In case either of these duties is temporarily revoked, the suspension period cannot exceed one year at a time.
Another proposal deals with anti-absorption provisions that prevent countries from reducing the price of their exported products to neutralise the effect of the duty imposed by India.
The budget also seeks to amend rules to allow India to impose a safeguard duty along with a duty in the nature of Tariff Rate Quota.
Duty suspension
The budget has temporarily revoked anti-dumping and countervailing duties on certain steel products to bring down input costs for domestic user industries such as engineering products.
Anti-dumping duties have been suspended from February 2, 2021, to September 30, 2021, on straight length bars and rods of alloy steel from China, high-speed steel of non-cobalt grade from Brazil, China and Germany and flat-rolled product of steel, plated or coated with alloy of aluminium or zinc from China, Vietnam and South Korea.
For the same period, countervailing duties are being revoked on imports of certain hot rolled and cold rolled stainless steel flat products from China and flat products of stainless steel from Indonesia.
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