New Delhi has requested Washington to comply with a WTO panel ruling and rollback the 72.49 per cent dumping duty and the 12.8 per cent countervailing duty on Indian cut-to-length carbon quality steel plates within a ‘reasonable’ period of three months.“The panel’s ruling has gone in our favour and Washington is not preferring an appeal before the WTO appellate body in the case,” senior commerce ministry officials have said. The duties were levied by the US Commerce Department some time ago on grounds that the steel item had been exported by India at below the normal value at which they were sold in the domestic market. Earlier, India had consultations with the US on the issue so as to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. After the consultations failed, Delhi approached the WTO dispute settlement body which set up a panel to sort the matter out.Referring to the US action on imposing a safeguard duty of 13 per cent, 10 per cent, and 7 per cent respectively for three years from March 2002 on Indian carbon flanges, officials fear that this may have a ‘negative impact on exports to the US even though it is too early to make any quantitative estimate of the damage’. India recently imposed anti-dumping duties ranging from $0.60-0.82 per kg on imports of cold rolled flat stainless steel products from the US on grounds of material injury to the domestic industry.
