Anti Dumping Duty Imposed for Six Years - Illegal?
ANTI Dumping Duty on imports of ‘Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Suspension Grade', originating in, or exported from, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea RP, Malaysia, Thailand and USA, was imposed by Notification No. 11/2008-Cus dated 23.01.2008.
Para 2 of the Notification stated, "The anti dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective for a period of five years …"
The Designated Authority recently requested the extension of this anti dumping duty up to one more year.
And the Government has done it in a strange way. They have substituted "five years" with "six years" in the original notification (11/2008).
As per Section 9A(5) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, the anti dumping imposed shall be valid for a period of FIVE years. Of course, this can be extended for another period of five years.
Section 9A(5) reads as:
(5) The anti-dumping duty imposed under this section shall, unless revoked earlier, cease to have effect on the expiry of five years from the date of such imposition:
Provided that if the Central Government, in a review, is of the opinion that the cessation of such duty is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury, it may, from time to time, extend the period of such imposition for a further period of five years and such further period shall commence from the date of order of such extension .
So, in this case, what the Government has done is technically wrong. The amended notification makes the anti dumping valid for a period of six years, which is not correct. The Government has no power to impose the duty for six years. It has to be five years, which can be extended by another five years.
Notification No. Dated: December 06, 2012