Anti-dumping duty on Oxo-alcohols
Govt amends yet another dead notification
Notification No. 84/2005-CUSTOMS, Dated : September 16, 2005 amends notification No. 57/2004–Customs, dated the 20th April 2004 to make it valid till 26th day of January, 2006. Perfectly legal? Not Really! Para 2 of Notification No. 57/2004–Customs reads as follows:-
“2. The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be levied for a period of five years with effect from the date of imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty, i.e. the 27th day of January, 2000, and shall be paid in Indian currency”
So this notification expired on 26th January 2005 and after nine months now the Government is trying to extend the life of this dead notification by another year.
What is happening to the Government? Are they not aware of the expiry of the notification? Any anti dumping duty collected till now after January 2005 is illegal and without authority of law. We thought only Parliament had the power to legislate retrospectively. Does the Board think it also has the same powers? Obviously somebody forgot to extend the life of the notification in January 2005 and now they are trying to smuggle it in by amending a notification which simply does not exist.
It was just 12 days ago that DDT pointed out (TIOL-DDT 196 - 07 09 2005) that by notification No 80/2005, Government had amended a superseded notification. While we hoped for a correction, what we are fed with is another amendment to yet another dead notification.
Anti Dumping notifications have ramifications beyond our borders. They are keenly watched by international traders and many foreign governments. This kind of mess- up will only damage our sagging reputation in international circles. What will our image be if the world knows that the highest Customs administration in the country has no mechanism to check whether a notification is alive or dead before it is amended? Something is terribly wrong with the system if the Board cannot keep track of its own notifications! And this calls for some corrective steps before the whole system collapses.
DDT and TIOL will be happy to assist the Board (absolutely free) to tell them whether a notification exists before they go ahead with amending it. We request the Board to show a little consideration at least when the prestige of the country abroad is involved. All that it takes is a minute of your valuable time. Manufacture of notifications is certainly not an easy job, but it can’t be this bad!
NOTIFICATION NO. , Dated : September 16, 2005