India to Align Trade Remedy Rules with Global Best Practices

India will soon align its trade remedy rules and regulations with established world standards to give maximum benefit to Indian industry, said Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

“There are some rules in India like the lesser duty rule in anti-dumping that does not allow the country to impose such duties on imports to the fullest extent. The EU and many other countries, however, do not follow this rule,” Goyal said at a press conference after a meeting with industry stakeholders and government officials from various Ministries and departments on the regulatory instruments for the formulation and implementation of effective trade policy and development strategy on Wednesday, 11 September 2019.

For instance, if the lesser duty rule is removed from Indian rules it would allow India to impose anti-dumping duties based on the dumping margin even if a lower rate of duty would be enough to remove the injury being caused to the domestic industry because of the cheap imports.

The Minister said that his officials were studying the best laws and rules used world over in the area of trade and changes would be made in Indian rules and regulations accordingly.

Goyal met representatives from around 100 domestic industries, including manufacturers and various associations, to discuss and provide a holistic view about regulatory instruments. Senior officials of various Ministries and Departments of Central Government also participated in the meeting.

Goyal, in his address, said that tariff & non-tariff measures will be used judiciously by India with an ultimate aim to enable industry to become more competitive. He said that the office of the Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) is being strengthened with more manpower who will be properly trained to perform their duties effectively.