[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY, PART II, SECTION
3, SUB-SECTION (i)]
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE)
Notification No. 12/2021-Customs (N.T.)
New Delhi, the 1
st
February, 2021
G.S.R. .… (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (10) of section 8B of the
Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules to
amend the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997, namely:-
1. Short title and commencement. — (1) These rules may be called the Customs Tariff
(Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Amendment Rules, 2021.
(2) They shall come into force on the 2
nd
February, 2021.
2. In the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997
(hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in rule 1, in sub-rule (1), for the word “Duty”, the word
“Measures” shall be substituted.
3. In the said rules, in rule 2,-
(a) in clause (b), for the word “duty”, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(b) in clause (d), in sub-clause (i), for the word “duty”, the word “measures” shall be substituted;
(c) for clause (f), the following clause shall be substituted, namely: -
‘(f) “provisional measure” means provisional safeguard measure imposed under sub- section (5)
of section 8B of the Act;’;
(d) after clause (f), the following clause shall be inserted, namely: -
‘(fa) “safeguard measure” means safeguard duty, or a tariff rate quota or such other measures
imposed under sub-section (1) of section 8B of the Act;’;
(e) after clause (g), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
‘(ga) “WTO” means the World Trade Organisation;’;
4. In the said rules, in rule 3, for the word “Safeguard” occurring at both the places, the words
“Trade Remedies” shall be substituted.
5. In the said rules, in rule 4,-
(a) in clause (2), for the word “duty”, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(b) in clause (4),-
(i) for the word “duty” occurring at both the places, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(ii) in sub-clause (ii), the word “positive” shall be omitted;
(c) in clause (5), for the word “duty”, the word “measure” shall be substituted.
6. In the said rules, in rule 5,-
(i) in sub-rule (2), in clause (b), the word “positive” shall be omitted;
(ii) in sub-rule (4), for the words “Commissioner of Customs”, the words “Principal
Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be,” shall be
substituted.
7. In the said rules, in rule 6, in sub-rule (1), for clause (i), the following clause shall be
substituted, namely: -
“(i) the name of the exporting countries, article involved and volume of imports.”.
8. In the said rules, for rule 8, the following rule shall be substituted, namely: -
“8. Determination of serious injury or threat of serious injury. The Director General shall
determine serious injury or threat of serious injury to the domestic industry taking into
account the following principles, namely: -
(i) in the investigation to determine whether increased imports have caused or threatening
to cause serious injury to the domestic industry, the Director General shall evaluate all
relevant factors of an objective and quantifiable nature having a bearing on the situation
of that industry, in particular, the rate and amount of the increase in imports of the article
concerned in absolute and relative terms, the share of the domestic market taken by
increased imports, changes in the level of sales, production, productivity, capacity
utilisation, profits and losses, and employment;
(ii) the determination referred to in clause (i) shall not be made unless the investigation
demonstrates, on the basis of objective evidence, the existence of the causal link
between increased imports of the article concerned and serious injury or threat thereof
and when factors other than increased imports are causing injury to the domestic
industry at the same time, such injury shall not be attributed to increased imports and in
such cases, the Director General may refer the complaint to the authority for anti-
dumping or countervailing duty investigations, as appropriate.”.
9. In the said rules, in rule 10, -
(i) for the word “duty” wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(ii) for the words, brackets and figures “sub-section (2)”, the words, brackets and figures
“sub-section (5)” shall be substituted.
10. In the said rules, in rule 11, -
(i) for sub-rule (2), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely: -
“(2) (a) The Director General shall also give recommendations regarding the extent of measure
which, if levied, would be adequate to prevent or remedy serious injury and to facilitate
adjustment;
(b) the level of tariff rate quota, if imposed as a measure, may be determined having
regard to the following conditions, namely:-
(i) maintaining traditional trade flow of the article over the representative period;
(ii) the existing and likely demand supply scenario in the country; and
(iii) any other condition that may be considered relevant:
Provided that the tariff rate quota applied shall not reduce the quantity of imports below the
level of the recent period, which shall be the average of imports in the last three years for
which statistics are available, unless a different level is deemed necessary to prevent or
remedy serious injury;
(c) tariff rate quota may be global or country specific;
(d) specific tariff rate quota may be allocated to countries with substantial interest,
considering the proportion of the share of imports of the article concerned into the country
during a representative period, and having regard to all relevant factors which may have or
are likely to affect the trade in the article;
(e) in a case where the tariff rate quota is country specific, a residual tariff rate quota shall
be provided for all other countries and in case the countries with specific tariff rate quota
exhaust their specific tariff rate quotas, such countries may use the residual tariff rate quota
available;
(f) any unused tariff rate quota may be carried forward and added to the tariff rate quota
for the subsequent period.”;
(ii) in sub-rule (3), -
(a) for the word “duty”, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(b) in the proviso, the word “positive” shall be omitted.
11. In the said rules, in rule 12, for the word “duty”, wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall
be substituted.
12. In the said rules, in rule 13,-
(i) for the word “duty”, occurring at both the places, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(ii) a proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
“provided that no such measure shall be applied on an article originating from a developing
country so long as the share of imports of that article from that country does not exceed
three per. cent or where the article is originating from more than one developing country,
then, so long as the aggregate of the imports from each of such developing countries with
less than three per. cent import share taken together, does not exceed nine per. cent of the
total import of that article in India”.
13. In the said rules, in rule 14, for the word “duty” wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall
be substituted.
14. In the said rules, for rule 15, the following rule shall be substituted, namely –
“15. Refund of duty. - If the safeguard measure imposed as a duty after the conclusion of
the investigation is lower than the provisional measure in the form of a duty already
imposed and collected, the differential shall be refunded to the importer.”.
15. In the said rules, in rule 16, -
(i) for the word “duty” wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(ii) in sub-rule (1), the word “positive” shall be omitted.
16. In the said rules, in rule 17, for the word “duty” wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall
be substituted.
17. In the said rules, in rule 18, -
(i) for the word “duty” wherever it occurs, the word “measure” shall be substituted;
(ii) in sub-rule (1), in clause (i), the word “positively” shall be omitted;
(iii) after sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely-
“(1A) The Director General may review the usage and implementation of the tariff rate
quota for any modification.”;
(iv) in sub-rule (2), after the words, brackets and figures “sub-rule (1)”, the words, brackets
and figures “or sub-rule (1A)” shall be inserted.
18. In the said rules, after rule 18, the following rule shall be inserted, namely: -
“19. Notification and consultation. – (1) The Central Government shall notify to the WTO
of all actions required under the WTO Agreement on Safeguards.
(2) Before imposition of a safegaurd measure, an opportunity to hold consultations with the
members of the WTO having substantial interest as exporters of the product concerned,
shall be provided”.
19. In the said rules, the ANNEXURE shall be omitted.
[F.No.334/02/2021-TRU]
(Rajeev Ranjan)
Under Secretary to the Government of India.
Note:- The principal rules was published vide notification number 35/1997-Customs (N.T), dated the
29
th
July, 1997, in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), vide
number G.S.R. 428(E), dated the 29
th
July, 1997.
