TIOL-DDT 84 · the untouched capture
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<html> <head> <title>Untitled Document</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#0000FF" size="3">TIOL-DDT 84</font><br> 30 03 2005<br> Wednesday</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>Anti Dumping cases –Should they go to WTO?</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Under Article 13 of the WTO agreement,<br> <br> <b>Each Member whose national legislation contains provisions on anti dumping measures shall maintain judicial, arbitral or administrative tribunals or procedures for the purpose, inter alia, of the prompt review of administrative actions relating to final determinations and reviews of determinations within the meaning of Article 11. Such tribunals or procedures shall be independent of the authorities responsible for the determination or review in question.</b><br> <br> In tune with this agreement, India had provided that the CESTAT shall be the Tribunal to decide appeals against anti-dumping orders or review. Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act stipulates that appeals against orders and review of anti-dumping shall lie with the CESTAT. Section 9C(5) requires that the appeal shall be heard by a special bench consisting of the President and at least two members. <br> <br> <b>(5) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be heard by a Special Bench constituted by the President of the Appellate Tribunal for hearing such appeals and such Bench shall consist of the President and not less than two members and shall include one judicial member and one technical member.</b><br> <br> Now the problem is, the CESTAT does not have a President since Justice Usha retired nine months ago! And that means no Anti dumping case can be heard as no Special Bench with the President can be constituted. As per the WTO agreement and as incorporated in the Indian Customs Tariff Act, the Anti Dumping duty is valid only for five years. For the last one year no Anti-Dumping case could be decided as there was no special bench and as it appears now, there is no chance of a President being appointed in the near future. So by the time a special bench is constituted with the appointment of a President, the Anti Dumping duty itself would lapse. The only option for the affected party would be to go to the WTO. May be the Government can depute a couple of SDRs in CESTAT specializing in Anti Dumping cases to defend us in WTO.<br> <br> <b>If the Government cannot appoint a President for CESTAT, it should at least change the law requiring the bench to be headed by the President!</b><br> <br> <font color="#006633"><b>Advance Licence where SION not fixed</b></font><br> <br> Advance licence will be given on self declaration, where SION (Standard Input Output Norms) are not fixed for<br> <br> 1. vegetable/edible oils and oil seeds<br> 2. cereals<br> 3. spices having a duty of more than 30%,<br> 4. fruits/vegetables having a duty of more than 30%,<br> <br> PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 63/2004-09, Dated: March 28, 2005<br> <br> <font color="#006633"><b>Pay a little more Service Tax in March and adjust in April</b></font><br> <br> The Government wants the Service Tax for March to be paid by 31st March 2005. But how do you know what exactly is the amount payable and what will happen if you receive a payment after you have made the tax payment into the Bank. As a measure of <b>trade facilitation</b>, the government wants you to pay a little extra amount, apply to the Assistant Commissioner for provisional assessment and then adjust the extra payment in the tax liability for April 2005! As a further facilitation, the department wants the assesses to tender high-value cheques latest by 11 am on March 31 so as to facilitate realisation of the amount by evening on the same day. Special clearing arrangement is made by the Reserve Bank of India, the State Bank of India and other agency banks for the purpose. Assesses should preferably choose transfer cheques, pay orders, demand drafts or cash as the mode of payment on March 31 so that the amounts are realised on the same day – another <b>facilitation measure! </b>The babus seem to be desperate to tell the FM that they have hit the target. Mr. Chidambaram should realise that he will still be the Finance Minister in April 2005, when there will be hardly any revenue. <br> <br> <font color="#006633"><b>Revenue Tinkering – It helps us too!</b></font><br> <br> The CEO of a PSU was asked to meet the Commissioner of Central Excise in his office. The purpose? The Commissioner would request the PSU MD to pay Rs 25 Crores in PLA in March 2005. The MD could not make it to the Commissioner’s office. So he sent his deputy. The Commissioner was not amused. He refused to meet the deputy and asked him to meet the Additional Commissioner. The Deputy was equally adamant, “why should I meet the Additional Commissioner, when he wants to request me to pay more duty?, he thought.” So he walked away without meeting the Additional Commissioner. The next day the Range Superintendent met the offended Deputy and asked him whether he was going to pay the extra amount and he was surprised to hear that they were willing to deposit that extra payment. “But Why?” wondered the Superintendent. “We too have our targets”, explained the PSU boss, “ and the best way to reach our target of production and clearance is to pay excise duty – on the goods for the manufacture of which raw material is yet to be purchased.” <br> <br> <font color="#FF6633"><b>Until Tomorrow with more of DDT<br> <br> Have a Nice Time<br> <br> Mail your comments to</b></font> <b>vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com </b><br> </font></p> </body> </html>