Attention of the Trade and Industry is invited to Section 8 B of the Customs Tariff Act of 1975 and the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997 framed there under (Hereinafter referred to as the Safeguard Rules). In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (I) of Rule 3 of the Safeguard Rules, the Central Govt. has appointed the undersigned as the Director General (Safeguards), for the purpose of the said rules.

2. In accordance with the provisions of the Safeguard Rules, safeguard duty can be imposed on any product imported into the country, in such increased quantities, absolute or relative to domestic production, and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury to the domestic producers of like or directly competitive products, irrespective of the source of origin of the imported product.
   
   
3. The safeguard duties can be imposed for a short duration with the immediate intention of preventing or remedying serious injury to the domestic industry. Such a measure would, however, also require the industry to adjust itself to the new situation of the competition offered by the increased imports. A safeguard measure can be imposed only after the Director General arrives at a finding, after due investigation, that the increased imports of particular product(s) are causing or are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic producers of like- or directly competitive articles.
   
   
4. An application for initiation of a safeguard investigation can be made by any aggrieved producer manufacturer, trade representative body, firm or institution, which is representative of domestic industry. This application should be in the format and should include information as detailed in Annex to this Trade Notice alongwith all supportive evidence/data/ annexes.
   
   
5. The following further requirements need to be fulfilled by all parties concerned.
   
   
   1. Information should be provided for the most recent period of three years (or longer) for which data is available.
      
      
   2. The details of the source of information must be provided along with copies of source document wherever practicable.
      
      
   3. Information provided on confidential basis, on cause being shown, be treated as Confidential Information. Confidential Information should be provided separately and not mixed up with the non-confidential information. Each page of the confidential information should be clearly and distinctly marked "Confidential" in bold letters both at the top right hand and bottom right hand side of the page.
      
      Non-confidential summary of confidential information may be provided by the supplier of the information. If the confidential information cannot be provided in a summarised or generalised form on non-confidential basis, such information may be disregarded unless it is demonstrated by the supplier of the information to the satisfaction of the investigating authorities from appropriate sources that the information is correct.
      
      
   4. Applicant(s) shall submit initial two copies of the application together with all supportive enclosures, data and annexes. Once the application is found to be properly documented and complete in all respects, applicants will be required to provide sufficient number (number of interested parties + seven) of copies of the application along with all enclosures/annexes etc.
      
      
   5. If any application is found to be incomplete or deficient in any manner, it may be returned (after retaining one copy) to the applicant(s) for necessary action.
      
      
   6. Documents which are not clearly legible and/or which are not authenticated by the submitter thereof may be disregarded.
      
      
   7. Subject to the provisions of rules in this regard, on cause being shown, a party to the investigation may be considered as an interested party.
      
      
   8. Request received within 15 days of publication of a notice of initiation of investigation for inclusion of any party to the investigation as an interested party, may be considered by the Director General (Safeguards) and a list of interested parties shall be established by the Director General within 21 days of the publication of notice of initiation, a copy of which shall be sent to all interested parties,
      
      
   9. A public file containing all- relevant material (non-confidential) shall be available for inspection by all inter by the Director General and submit rebuttals, if any, within such period as allowed by the Director General.
      
      
   10. Information presented orally by any interested party in a public hearing shall be submitted in writing by such party to the Director General within 5 days of the hearing or within such period as allowed by the Director General. Interested parties may collect copies of such submissions on a day indicated by the Director General and submit rebuttals, if any, within such period as allowed by the Director General.
       
       
   11. Any evidence or any other submissions made by any party shall be provided in sufficient number of copies (number of interested parties + seven) to the Director General.
       
       
   12. All notices shall be displayed on the notice board of the Directorate General for a period of 10 days from the date of the notice.
       
       
   13. An English translation of any information provided in a language other than Hindi or English would need to be supplied simultaneously by the submitter of the information, failing which the information may be disregarded.
       
       
   14. All information/material should also preferably be provided on 3- 1/2" (three and a half inch) floppy in Word for Windows compatible format.
       
       All the Trade Associations and Chambers of Commerce and industry are requested to bring the contents of this Trade Notice to the notice of their members/ constituents.