Japan, Russia and Qatar have questioned the procedures followed by India for carrying out anti-dumping investigations against import of certain chemicals and have alleged that the country was violating World Trade Organisation rules.

“In response, India clarified that it was not bending rules but agreed to hold bilateral discussions with the three countries on the matter,” an official familiar with the proceedings told BusinessLine .

The discussion took place at a recent meeting on anti-dumping rules at the WTO.

If India is not able to respond to concerns raised by its trading partners to their satisfaction, it may agree to remove anti-dumping duties imposed on some items or face the risk of being dragged to the WTO’s dispute settlement body for a verdict.

Japan’s concerns

Japan voiced concerns with two anti-dumping investigations initiated by India in October 2016 —Toluene DiIsocyanate (TDI) and caustic soda — alleging that India failed to respect key ADA (anti-dumping agreement) provisions on injury analysis and causation as well as treatment of confidential information.

WTO rules

As per WTO rules, anti-dumping duties can be imposed if a country can establish that an item is being exported by another country at prices lower than those prevailing in their own markets and it was resulting in injury to the domestic industry.

In June this year, India imposed provisional anti-dumping duty on import of TDI, used in furniture cushion and automobile seats, which it imports from China, Japan and South Korea, for a period of six months.

The Directorate General of Anti Dumping (DGAD) had observed in its report that the organic compound had been exported to India below normal prices and the domestic industry had suffered material injury.

The DGAD initiated anti-dumping investigations against import of caustic soda from Japan and Qatar in October 2016.

Qatar’s grouse

Qatar, in its submission at the WTO, stated that the petitioners failed to show that they were being injured by the imports as profits, capacity and the number of employees in competing domestic firms all increased during the investigation period.

It added that it wanted the authorities to reject the application for relief and terminate the investigation.

Qatar also complained against imposition of anti-dumping duties on linear alkyl benzene in April and said there were a number of inconsistencies in the investigation and the facts showed no dumping,

Russia said India's dumping investigation into imports of ammonium nitrate was inconsistent with WTO norms.

Russia angle

Russian producers participated in the investigation in good faith but were denied individual company duty margins, while the final duties imposed exceed the margin of dumping in violation of WTO rules, it added.

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