Section 129 - Insertion of new section 9C - Finance Act, 2002

129. Insertion of new section 9C.- In the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) (hereinafter referred to as the Customs Tariff Act), after section 8B, the following section shall be inserted, namely:- '8C. Power of Central Government to impose transitional product specific safeguard duty on imports from the People's Republic of china- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 8B, if the Central Government, after conducting such enquiry as it deems fit, is satisfied that any article is imported into India, from the People's Republic of China, in such increased quantities and under such conditions so as to cause or threatening to cause market disruption to domestic industry, then, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, impose a safeguard duty on that article: Provided that the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt such quantity of any article as it may specify in the notification, when imported from the People's Republic of China into India, from payment of the whole or part of the safeguard duty leviable thereon. (2) The Central Government may, pending the determination under sub-section (1), impose a provisional safeguard duty under this sub-section on the basis of a preliminary determination that increased imports have caused or threatened to cause market disruption to a domestic industry: Provided that where, on final determination, the Central Government is of the opinion that increased imports have not caused or threatened to cause market disruption to a domestic industry, it shall refund the duty so collected: Provided further that the provisional safeguard duty shall not remain in force for more than two hundred days from the date on which it was imposed. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), a notification issued under sub-section (1) or any safeguard duty imposed under sub-section (2), unless specifically made applicable in such notification or such imposition, as the case may be, shall not apply to articles imported by a hundred per cent, export-oriented undertaking or a unit in a free trade zone or in a special economic zone. Explanation- For the purposes of this section, the expressions "hundred per cent, export-oriented undertaking", "free trade zone" and "special economic zone" shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in Explanation 1 to sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944). (4) The duty chargeable under this section shall be in addition to any other duty imposed under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force. (5) The duty imposed under this section shall, unless revoked earlier, cease to have effect on the expiry of four years from the date of such imposition: Provided that if the Central Government is of the opinion that such article continues to be imported into India, from the People's Republic of China, in such increased quantities so as to cause or threatening to cause market disruption to domestic industry and the safeguard duty should continue to be imposed, it may extend the period of such imposition for a period not beyond the period often years from the date on which the safeguard duty was first imposed. (6) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for the purposes of this section, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such rules may provide for the manner in which articles liable for safeguard duty may be identified and for the manner in which the causes of market disruption or causes of threat of market disruption in relation to such articles may be determined and for the assessment and collection of such safeguard duty. (7) For the purposes of this section, (a) "domestic industry" means the producers- (i) as a whole of a like article or a directly competitive article in India; or (ii) whose collective output of a like article or a directly competitive article in India constitutes a major share of the total production of the said article in India; (b) "market disruption" shall be caused whenever imports of a like article or a directly competitive article produced by the domestic industry, increase rapidly, either absolutely or relatively, so as to be a significant cause of material injury, or threat of material injury, to the domestic industry; (c) "threat of market disruption" means a clear and imminent danger of market disruption. (8) Every notification issued under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.'.