DGTR Moves to Paperless in Application, Investigation Phases in Corona period – Fast Action Assured with No Verification of Data

· Measure to Last till 30 June 2020

[DGTR Trade Notice: 01/2020 dated 10 April 2020]

Subject: Temporary changes in the Trade Remedy investigation processes due to COVID-19 pandemic

No. 4/3/2019-DGTR

1. The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 and consequent restnct10ns imposed by different countries, including India, to tackle this pandemic, are having an adverse impact on the conduct of trade remedy investigations by DGTR. It has, therefore, become essential to make certain temporary changes in the investigation process to facilitate the interested parties to apply for and participate in the investigations as well as enable the officers of the DGTR to conduct the investigations.

2. The following procedural modifications are, therefore, prescribed for the trade remedy investigations as a temporary measure:

New Investigations

Filing of Applications

a) There shall be no necessity of filing of a hard copy (i.e. paper copy) of the application or any supporting document.

b) The applications may be signed, scanned and emailed with supporting documents to the email address adll-dgtr@gov.in. It should be ensured that the narrative part of the application/document is in searchable PDF/ MS Word format and data files are in MS Excel format.

Ongoing Investigations

Filing of Submissions/Documents:

c) Interested parties should file questionnaire responses, submissions and any other communication (both Confidential and on-Confidential versions) by email to the concerned team handling the investigation. It should be ensured that the narrative part of the submission/document is in searchable PDF/ MS Word format and data files are in MS Excel format.

Oral hearings/Consultations:

d) Oral hearings/consultations shall be held through video conferencing. The relevant details shall be communicated to the interested parties in the notice of the hearing/consultation.

e) Written submissions and rejoinders should be emailed to the concerned investigation team/other interested parties. It should be ensured that the narrative part of the submission/document is in searchable PDF/ MS Word format and data files are in MS Excel format.

Verification of information:

f) Since it would not be possible for the investigating teams to undertake on-site visit(s) to verify the information provided by interested parties, all parties should ensure provision of all supporting data/information in respect of the submissions made. In order to facilitate verification of data, interested parties should also furnish supplementary information, like back up documents in the form of (i) accounting and management records (ii) all worksheets (usually MS Excel files and /or other extractions from the company's databases) used for preparing data for the application/ questionnaire response (iii) explanation on how the worksheets were compiled and h ow to reconcile the figures and data in the worksheets with the figures and data submitted in the application / questionnaire response.

Miscellaneous:

g) The Designated Authority may waive any other prescribed procedural requirement as may be deemed fit in the current circumstances.

3. This Trade Notice shall come into effect from the date of issue and shall be valid till 30^th June 2020 or till further orders, whichever is earlier.