World Trade Organization Organisation Mondiale du Commerce Organización Mundial del Comercio

Colombia 8:

According to paragraph 92 of the Secretariat Report: "The Director General (Safeguards), in the Department of Revenue has responsibility for hearing the petitions and conduct investigations on safeguards. The Director General is also responsible for carrying out recommendations under the Indo Singapore Trade Agreement (Safeguard Measures) Rules 2009. A request for a safeguard investigation must be made in writing to the Director General, by or on behalf of the domestic industry. The Director General may also self initiate an investigation upon information received from any Commissioner of Customs. If the safeguard measures are requested to be imposed for more than a year, details of efforts made or planned in order to adjust positively to import competition, including details of progressive liberalization, must be provided, under the Safeguard Duty Rules 1997. Thereafter, the Director General may initiate an investigation to determine the existence of serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry, caused by the import of an article in such increased quantities, absolute or relative to domestic production. A safeguard investigation must be completed and notified publicly within eight months of initiation of the investigation (or within the period allowed by the Central Government). The proceedings of the Standing Board on Safeguards are not open to the public."

8. What legal provisions preclude the opening of such proceedings to the public, since this could violate the principle of transparency and the right of defence established in WTO law in this type of investigation?

Reply: Safeguard investigations are conducted by DG Safeguards as per the Safeguard Duty Rules which are available on the website of DG Safeguards. All interested parties are provided adequate opportunities to present their views as per the requirement of Article 3 of the Safeguard Agreement. India makes notifications to the Safeguard Committee as per the requirement of Article 12 of Safeguard Agreement to ensure transparency of the measures being taken. The functioning of the Standing Board on Safeguards is an inter ministerial consultation process on the recommendation of the DG Safeguards to facilitate the decision making by the Central Government.

2. Exemption from duty