ASSIGNMENT ON ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING MEASURES: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GATT & WTO

MEANING OF DUMPING
The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines the term dumping as to sell (excess goods) to a foreign market at a low price Haberler defined dumping as the sale of goods abroad at a price which is lower than the selling price of the same goods at the same time in the same circumstances at home, taking account, of differences in transport costs. Dumping of goods in the most common economic sense means to send goods unsalable at a high price in the home market to a foreign market for sale at a low price, to keep up the price at home andto capture a new market

MEANING OF ANTI-DUMPING
Duties were introduced by the developed countries to protect their industries against the low priced imports. Anti-dumping duties can be presented not as protection but as encounter against unfair competition.

DUMPING WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO GATT

Dumping is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at price lower than its normal value. Often, dumping is mistaken and simplified to mean cheap or low priced imports. However, it is a misunderstanding of theterm. Dumping implies low priced imports only in the relative sense (relative to the normal value), and not in absolute sense. Ironically, the use and importance of anti-dumping law is inversely related to the prevalence and efficacy of free trade agreements. As free trade agreements have reduced tariffs and outlawed most import quotas, antidumping cases have increased dramatically.

ANTI-DUMPING LAW WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO WTO AND ANTI-DUMPING AGREEMENT

GATT/WTO was established with the objective of promoting free trade. Barriers to free trade may be tariff barrier or nontariff barrier. Tariff regimes are easy to administer and simple to understand. Non-tariff measures involve intricate issues and are governed by various WTO agreements. Anti-dumping is one of the most frequently used non-tariff measure. WTO rules allow the member countries to opt for anti-dumping measures with specific stipulation. Article VI of the GATT, 19945 deals about antidumping. Further there is also Agreement to give effect to Article VI which contains provisions which must be strictly followed when conducting anti-dumping investigation. If a country today has anti-dumping legislations, it must be consistent with the agreement. The practices and procedures in actual investigation must conform to the agreement

WTO AND ANTI-DUMPING AGREEMENT

The Agreement on Implementation of Article VI was first negotiated during the Kennedy Round (1967) and later substantially revised during the Tokyo Round (1979) of GATT negotiations. Anti-dumping measures are unilateral remedies which may be applied by a Member after an investigation . The Agreement sets out rules for the conduct of antidumping investigations, including initiation of cases, calculation of dumping margins, the application of remedial measures,injury determinations, enforcement, reviews, duration of the measure and dispute settlement. The Agreement applies to trade in goods only. Trade in services is not covered by this agreement

ANTI-DUMPING IN INDIA: INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT & EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE MECHANISM

LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF ANTI DUMPING IN INDIA

The principle of imposition of anti-dumping duties was propounded by the Article VI of General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT) 1994 Uruguay Round Indian legislation in this regard is contained in Section 9A and 9B (as amended in 1995) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 Further regulations are contained in the Anti-Dumping Rules [Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995] The Designated Authority for conducting investigations pertaining to Anti-Dumping issues and on basis thereof, for forwarding its recommendations is the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. The responsibility for Imposition and Collection of duties as imposed /recommended by the Adjudicating authority is imposed upon the Ministry of Finance, Government of India

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

The anti-dumping proceedings are initiated based on an application made by or on behalf of the concerned domestic industry to the Designated Authority in the Department of Commerce for an investigation into alleged dumping of a product into India. The interested parties to an anti-dumping investigation include: The domestic industry on whose complaint the proceedings are initiated; The exporters or the foreign producers of the like articles subject to investigation; The importers of the same article allegedly dumped into India; The Government of the exporting country/countries. The trade or business associations of the domestic producers/importers/user industries ofthe dumped product.

CONT..
As a rule, the Designated Authority initiates the proceedings for anti-dumping action on the basis of a petition received. Rule 5(4) provides for suo motu initiation of antidumping proceedings by the Designated Authority on the basis of information received from the Collector of Customs or any other source on its own without any petition . The remedy against dumping is not always in the form of anti-dumping duty. The investigation may be terminated or suspended after the preliminary findings if the exporter concerned furnishes an undertaking to revise his price.

Before giving its final findings, the Ministry informs all interested parties of the essential facts under consideration which will likely form the basis of itsdecision Within one year from the date of initiation of the investigation, or in exceptional circumstances eighteen months, the Ministry must make a final determination regarding injury and the value of antidumping duties, submit its final findings to the Central Government, and issue a public notice on its finding.