Three Indian steel firms win duty case in European court

S Venkitachalam

New Delhi, Sept 20: In what is considered to be a major relief for the Indian stainless steel bright bar makers, the European Court of First Instance has ruled against the European Council’s (EC) findings in imposing definitive countervailing duty on the product.

Three companies — Mukund, Facor and Viraj Export and Import — had filed petitions before the court against EC’s findings in the case, according to the information reaching the commerce ministry from Indian office in Brussels.

Commerce ministry officials said that the court ruling implies that it has not concurred with EC’s decision in the case.

For India, major markets for steel and its items are Indonesia, Italy, Middle East, Taiwan, the US, Belgium, Canada, Malaysia, Japan, Spain, Sri Lanka and Thailand, besides the EU member-countries.

The US has also imposed 72.49 per cent anti-dumping duty and 12.8 per cent countervailing duty on Indian cut-to-length carbon steel plates on the ground that the items had been exported by India at below the normal value at which they are sold in the domestic market.

In the past, India has also imposed anti-dumping duties on several products imported from the US on grounds of material injury to the domestic industry. They relate to bisphenol-A, acrylic fibre, newsprint, graphite electrode, CBR, sodium cyanide and oxo alcohols.
The WTO agreement on anti-dumping practices regulates anti-dumping actions of member-countries against their trading partners.
Anti dumping/countervailing duty investigations are basically targetted at the “discriminatory” pricing practices indulged in by individual enterprises. As such, the government is not a party to anti-dumping investigations into Indian export products.

If, however, a targetted Indian company feels that the investigating authorities have not followed the procedural requirements or the substantive rules prescribed under the above, it can take recourse to the “judicial review” under the domestic law of the member-countries imposing anti-dumping duties.

Alternatively, the targetted company can approach the government for taking up the issue under the Dispute Settlement Undertaking for consultation or for establishing a panel. The government has set up a “Co-ordination Cell” in the commerce ministry to co-ordinate with all concerned agencies with a view to defending anti-dumping investigations. Headed by an officer of the rank of an additional secretary to the government, the cell extends assistance to the targetted Indian companies through export promotion councils.

The cell has also sensitised all the foreign missions over the issue and has asked them to report to the cell about the initiation of any dumping investigations as soon as they come to their notice. India, along with other developing countries, has submitted several proposals to WTO, seeking a faster implementation of the agreement on anti-dumping practices.