Cold rolled flat products of stainless steel - India initiates Safeguard Investigation
INDIA notified the WTO's Committee on Safeguards that it initiated on 19 September 2014 a safeguard investigation on Cold Rolled Flat Products of Stainless Steel of Chromium type, 400 series.
The application for imposition of safeguard duty has been filed by Jindal Stainless Limited, which claims that it accounts for 85% of the total production of the product in India. The product is imported into India from a number of countries, and primarily from Japan, Korea, China, EU, USA and Mexico.
The applicant claimed that the increased imports of the product have caused and are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic producers.
The domestic industry has requested for immediate imposition of safeguard measures for a period of four years in their application. The domestic industry has also requested for imposition of provisional safeguard duty in view of steep deterioration in performance of the domestic industry as a result of increased imports of product under consideration.
What is a safeguard investigation?
A safeguard investigation seeks to determine whether increased imports of a product are causing, or is threatening to cause, serious injury to a domestic industry.
During a safeguard investigation, importers, exporters and other interested parties may present evidence and views and respond to the presentations of other parties.
A WTO member may take a safeguard action (i.e. restrict imports of a product temporarily) only if the increased imports of the product are found to be causing, or threatening to cause, serious injury.