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G. Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, Sept. 14

INDIA has complained to the panel of the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that the European Union (EU) has not correctly implemented the recommendations and rulings of the DSB, asking the EU to suspend imposition of anti-dumping measures against India in the bed-linen case.

At a hearing of the panel held in Geneva on September 10, the Indian representative recalled that the DSB recommendation gave the European Commission (EC) the choice either to revoke the measure or to modify it correctly and the EC has done neither, official sources told Business Line here. "There has simply not been even an actual intention to comply," India said at the panel meeting.

New Delhi's contention is that the so-called "measures to comply" taken by the EC in the form of the re-determination and its subsequent amendments have introduced a series of inconsistencies with the Anti-Dumping Agreement and the Dispute Settlement Undertaking. This re-determination and its amendments would soon, upon conclusion of the ongoing "partial interim review," result in further imposition of anti-dumping measures, the Indian representative argued.

India's representative said that the EC has confused the concepts of an anti-dumping duty and a dumping margin and has attached "a bizarre meaning" to the word "sample". The EC also changed its mind as regards the choice of the averaging factor. It also sought to create an evaluation of factors based on data that were not even collected, leave alone brought on record, before the original panel. The EC also directly and repeatedly disregards what the panel stated in respect of the constructive remedies.

India said that its bed-linen exporters and hundreds of thousands of workers connected with the industry have faced the unending consequences of a prolonged investigation since 1994, as the very initiation of proceedings affects exports. Since 1997, Indian exporters have had to face four sets of anti-dumping determination and there is no relief in sight, "despite measures being termed inconsistent by the DSB," the sources said.

The panel's hearings would be over by end-October and a ruling would be delivered in the first week of November, the sources added.

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India contests EU claim on bed-linen case

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