India is firmly committed to the principle of free and fair trade among nations which is the very foundation of the multilateral trade order established by WTO. Discuss.

India is firmly committed to the principle of free and fair trade among nations, which is the very foundation of the multilateral trade order established by WTO. While a giant step has been taken by India towards establishment of free trade regime with the phasing out of Quantitative Restrictions on imports, there is also a need to ensure fair trade. Depending upon the need, anti-dumping, anti-subsidy countervailing and safeguard measures have been invoked in the past. All these measures are in the nature of trade remedies, which the domestic industry could take advantage of subject to the fulfillment of essential conditions and criteria as mandated under law. The government has already put in place the requisite legal and institutional mechanism for administering these measures. However, various concepts and legal and operational aspects involved in these schemes need to be understood in the proper sense and in the right perspective. Under the existing WTO arrangement, and in terms of various provisions under the Customs Tariff Act of 1975 (as amended in 1995) and Rules framed there under, anti-dumping and allied measures constitute the legal framework, within which the domestic industry can seek necessary relief and protection against dumping of goods and articles by exporting companies and firms of any country from any part of the world. These measures have assumed a great deal of relevance in India in recent times in view of the scenario arising out of unfair trade practices adopted by some of the trading partners, especially in the post-QR phase. The Anti-Dumping and allied measures are complex legal disciplines which are often not within the easy comprehension of the trade and industry who are the users of these measures. To obviate this difficulty faced by large sections of the domestic industry, there is a need to explain the basic concepts, legal provisions and procedural aspects in clear and easy language for their benefit. This will facilitate the domestic industry to avail of these remedial measures in the wake of alleged dumping and of injury caused by unfair trade practices. However, it is always necessary to bear in mind that the anti-dumping action can never be an action based on presumption and vague complaints and only on very rare occasions suo-moto proceedings can be initiated. The requisite parameters of law have to be duly complied with and need to be fully supported and substantiated with facts and figures before any action could be initiated. Sections 9, 9 A, 9 B and 9 C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as amended in 1995 and the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 framed there under form the legal basis for anti-dumping investigations and for the levy of anti-dumping duties. These laws are based on the Agreement on Anti-Dumping which is in pursuant of Article VI of GATT 1994.