Page 55 - Annual Report 2019

Authority and the right to be heard during the ensure their meaningful participation during the
investigation before the final decision is taken by the investigation and availability of data. This was
Authority. Excessive confidentiality without any valid instrumental in issuance of expedited findings.
reason may not be desirable and might restrict the
fairness of investigations as it hampers the other (b) Procedure for Summary Proceedings: The cases of
stakeholders from defending their interest and name change were hitherto processed in terms of the
participation in the investigations. Therefore, it is Rule 23 available for Mid Term Review, though they
imperative that the non-confidential information is may fall under the category of change of name as a
disclosed to the stakeholders which is sufficiently matter of ‘record’ only, but were handled via a lengthy
representative and allows them to rebut and submit and time consuming process. Therefore, a Trade
their counter comments. DGTR issued Trade Notice Notice No 12/2018 dated 17th September 2018 was
Nos. 10/2018 dated 7th September 2018 and 14/2018 issued streamlining and simplifying the examination
dated 1st October 2018 to bring uniformity and of the requests for change in the name of producer(s) /
fairness in the disclosure requirements by prescribing exporters in the notified duty chart for Anti-Dumping
the basic criteria for confidentiality in responses filed and Countervailing Duty Investigations. The name
by the domestic industry and other interested parties. change in four cases has already been done as per the
This also increases the confidence of the stakeholders new prescribed “summary method’ notified under the
in the process used to reach a decision. said trade notice.

Expedited Relief: Time lines prescribed for (c) NSR Investigations: NSR Investigations are
investigations: always very complex and subjective as there is lack of
uniformity and clarity in the procedures and
6. The following initiatives were undertaken during methodology. Therefore, a Trade Notice No. 08/2018
the year to expedite completion of investigation dated 25.04.2018 was issued prescribing the
leading to issuance of final findings: application format for Initiation of New Shipper
Review investigation and a Trade notice 01/2019 dated
(a) Prescription of updated comprehensive formats: 29.01.2019 was issued notifying the simplified
Piecemeal requests for information always cause procedure for New Shipper Review Investigations.
delays during any process. Therefore, with a view to This Trade Notice inter-alia prescribed the missing
obviate the need for frequent and multiple requests for timelines for NSR investigations.
additional information and also for reducing the scope
for subjectivity, the extensively revised comprehensive (d) Acceptance of complete applications: Trade Notice
questionnaire formats for filing response by the No. 15/2018 dated 22/11/2018 was issued regarding
Producer Exporters and importers were prescribed. In the revised checklist for prima facie scrutiny of
addition, new formats for questionnaire response for application for completeness of documents. This
Users as well as Supporters of Petition were also ensured that the applications/petitions received are
introduced (Trade Notice No. 13/2018 dated 27th prima-facie complete. This not only helped in reducing
September 2018) to ensure availability of authentic the issue of deficiency letters but also resulted in
data for decision making, which then can be verified as expedited decision on initiation as well as
per the requirement of the investigation. The formats investigation leading to expedited final findings.
for submission of application by the Domestic Industry
were also revised in line with current applicable Laws 7. The aforesaid measures have ensured sharp decline
and Rules read with best practices to ensure in the average time taken in issue of final findings seen
availability of complete and comprehensive from the date of initiation as detailed in the table
information. The formats in case of Users and below. The average time taken in issue of final
Supporters, have been introduced for the first time to finding was merely 281 days (9.37 months) during

47 | Annual Report 2018-19 | DGTR