TMI BlogSeeks to notify the India-ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (Safeguard Measures) Rules, 2016X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic industry and where delay in imposition of provisional safeguard measure would cause irreparable damage to the domestic industry; (c) Director General means the Director General (Safeguard) appointed by the Central Government under sub-rule (1) of rule 3 of the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997 ; (d) domestic industry means the producers (i) as a whole of the like good or a directly competitive good in India; or (ii) whose collective output of the like good or a directly competitive good in India constitutes a major share of the total production of the said good in India; (e) good means material or product; (f) increased imports includes increase in imports from the member State of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whether in absolute terms or relative to domestic production; (g) interested party includes, - (i) any exporter or producer from the member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or importer of the good subjected to investigation for purposes of taking safeguard measure or a trade or business association, maj ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y and to facilitate adjustment; (e) to recommend the duration of the safeguard measure and where the period so recommended is more than a year, to recommend progressive liberalisation adequate to facilitate adjustment; (f) to review the need for continuation of a safeguard measure. 4. Initiation of investigation. (1) Except as provided in sub-rule (4), the Director General shall, on receipt of a written application by or on behalf of the domestic producer of like good or directly competitive good, initiate an investigation to determine the existence of serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry, caused by increased imports of a good due to tariff concession under the Trade Agreement. (2) An application under sub-rule (1) shall be made in the form as may be specified by the Director General in this behalf and such application shall be supported by,- (a) evidence of - (i) increased imports; (ii) serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry; (iii) a causal link between imports and the alleged serious injury or threat of serious injury; (iv) the reduction or elimination of a customs duty under the Trade Agree ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of serious injury is based; (d) reasons for initiation of the investigation; (e) the address to which representations by interested parties should be directed; and (f) the time-limits allowed to interested parties for making their views known through appropriate representation. (2) The Director General shall forward a copy of the public notice to - (a) the Central Government in the Ministry of Commerce and other Ministries concerned, as he deems fit; (b) known exporters of the good, the increased imports of which have been alleged to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the domestic industry; (c) the Governments of the exporting State and all other member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; and (d) other interested parties, as he deems fit. (3) The Director General shall also provide a copy of the application referred to in subrule (1) of rule 4 to - (a) the known exporters, or the concerned trade associations; (b) the Governments of the exporting State and all other member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ; and (c) the Central Government in the Ministry of Commerce: Provided that the Direct ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6 . Confidential information. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rules (1), (3) and (7) of rule 5 , sub-rule (2) of rule 8 and sub-rule (5) of rule 10, any information which is by nature confidential or which is provided on a confidential basis shall, upon cause being shown, be treated as such by the Director General and shall not be disclosed without specific authorisation of the party providing such information. (2) The Director General may require the parties providing information on confidential basis to furnish non-confidential summary thereof and if, in the opinion of the party providing such information, such information cannot be summarised, such party may submi t to the Director General a statement of reasons why summarisation is not possible. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (2), if the Director General is satisfied that the request for confidentiality is not warranted or the supplier of the information is unwilling either to make the information public or to authorise its disclosure in a generalised or summary form, he may disregard such information unless it is demonstrated to his satisfaction from appropriate sources that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ) The safeguard measure under sub-rule (1) shall remain in force only for a period not exceeding two hundred days from the date on which it was imposed. 10. Final findings. (1) The Director General shall, within eight months from the date of initiation of the investigation, or within such extended period as the Central Government may allow, determine whether, - (a) the increased imports of the good under investigation has caused or threatened to cause serious injury to the domestic industry; and (b) a causal link exists between the increased imports due to tariff concession under the Trade Agreement and serious injury or threat of serious injury. (2) The Director General shall also give his recommendations regarding safeguard measures which would be adequate to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate adjustment. (3) The Director General shall also make his recommendations regarding the duration of the safeguard measure: Provided that where the period recommended is more than one year, the Director General shall also recommend progressive liberalisation adequate to facilitate adjustment. (4) The final findings, if affirmative, shall contain all inf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , if any. 12 . Imposition of safeguard measures on non-discriminatory basis. Subject to the provisions of sub-rule (9) of rule 5, safeguard measures under these rules shall be nondiscriminatory and applicable to the good imported from all other member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. 13. Date of commencement of safeguard measure. (1) The safeguard measure applied under rule 11 shall take effect from the date of publication of the notification, in the Official Gazette, imposing such safeguard measure. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1), where a provisional safeguard measure has been imposed and where the Director General has recorded a finding that increased imports have caused or threaten to cause serious injury to domestic industry, it shall be specified in the notification issued under rule 11 that such safeguard measure shall take effect from the date of imposition of the provisional safeguard measure. 14 . Refund of duty. If the safeguard measure taken after the conclusion of the investigation results in a rate of duty which is lower than the rate of duty resulting from a provisional safeguard measure alread ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
