Shrimp row: India builds case against US
India has built a strong case against the US for selectively applying its amended customs bond directive on shrimp exports from India and four other countries rendering their exports incompetitive.
By Amiti Sen, TNN |
NEW DELHI: India has built a strong case against the US for selectively applying its amended customs bond directive on shrimp exports from India and four other countries rendering their exports incompetitive.
It has come up with arguments against the US move, which it claims flouts the World Trade Organisation's anti-dumping agreement on various counts. India's request for establishment of a dispute settlement panel will be examined at the body’s meeting on Thursday.
India argued that since the amended customs bond directive imposed additional bond liabilities on exporters of just frozen warm water shrimps and that too originating from just five identified countries, it violated WTO norms. This singling out of the subject merchandise and countries emphasises the arbitrary and discriminatory character of the directive, the submission said.
The US imposed anti-dumping duties on shrimp exports from India, Brazil, Ecuador, Thailand, China and Vietnam in February ’05. The amended customs bond directive was introduced soon after. Under the directive, shrimp exporters from the identified countries faced the liability of furnishing continuous bonds for an amount covering the total estimated anti-dumping duties or countervailing duties on the value of imports of shrimps for the previous 12 months.
The requirement for exporters of other products continued to be equal to 10% of the duties, taxes and fees paid by the importer on the same merchandise imported in the previous year.
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Speaking to ET, official sources said that the requirement for furnishing continuous bonds equal to 100% of total estimated anti-dumping duties based on the previous year’s figures was crippling for shrimp exporters as this was in addition to the requirement of providing bonds or cash deposits at the time of importation equal to the estimated anti-dumping or countervailing duties on imports of such merchandise. “This amounts to charging double anti-dumping duty,” an official said.The submission added that the amended directive was inconsistent with various articles of the anti-dumping agreement as the requirement was a specific action against dumping and subsidisation not in accordance with the provisions of the AD Agreement. It also resulted in charges to importers in excess of the margin of dumping or in excess of the amount of the subsidy determined to have been granted.
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