COMMENTARY
INTERVIEW
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Disinvestment Commission chief flays EU anti-dumping move

Disinvestment Commission Chairman G V Ramakrishna on Monday flayed the European Union for its plans to classify as incentives subsidies offered by the Indian government to exporters and to levy anti-dumping duties on such exports to the European Union.

Speaking at an anti-dumping seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Ramakrishna pointed out that the application of anti-dumping measures in developed countries would have serious consequences on exports, especially since quantitative restrictions were being progressively eliminated.

He said the United States' anti-dumping provisions existed before the World Trade Organisation came into force. Commenting on the US procedures, he said first the commerce department determined whether there was any dumping and the extent of the dumping margin was determined by the International Trade Commission in the US if there was material injury to the US industry.

Also speaking at the meet, V Lakshmikumaran said that customs duties had been cut from a peak of 140 per cent in 1991-92 to 40 per cent in 1997-98, were expected to come down further to 25 per cent in 1998-99. Lakshmikumaran, a former Indian Revenue Services officer and currently a partner in a law firm, said the customs duties reduction meant that industry could not expect tariff protection beyond the above levels in the current as well as in the next fiscal. He added that such tariff protection was inadequate unless industry expanded its production volumes.

He pointed out that while the US spoke of achieving a free trade regime, it was imposing anti-dumping duties on the grounds that imports were causing material injury to its domestic industry.

Lakshmikumaran stated that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for Indian exporters to establish that they had not resorted to dumping. He warned that Indian exporters supplying goods at lower prices in the US in order to fulfill their obligation under the Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme would attract anti-dumping laws. He claimed that both the US and the EU were in fact waiting for such a situation to emerge so that anti-dumping duties could be imposed on such goods, he added.

Lakshmikumaran said Indian exporters must narrow the difference between the domestic price and export price to escape the anti-dumping provision.

He wondered how Japan continued to export TV sets to the US notwithstanding the anti-dumping duties imposed on Tokyo for the past 23 years.