India's Subsidies And Countervailing Legal System Research

India owns a subsidy system which is similar to the WTO rules, as a foundingmember of the WTO. Legal system on subsidies and countervailing of India is studiedsystematically for our correct response to India’s anti-subsidy investigations.The legal sources in India on subsidies and countervailing includes the CustomsTariff (Amendment) Act1995and The Customs Tariff (identification, Assessment andCollection of Countervailing Duty on subsidized Articles and for Determination ofinjury) Rules,1995. The implementing agency in India on subsidies andcountervailing is the Ministry of Commerce and Industry which is responsible for theinvestigation and the Ministry of Taxation which is responsible for enforcing. Inaddition, after the results of the investigation, the central government of India willmake the decision on whether or not to tax as the decision maker.The substantive rules of the countervailing duty law in India involve theidentification of subsidies, damage, causation and preferential treatment for thedeveloping countries, the procedural rules of which involve the initiation of theinvestigation, the preliminary investigation and determination, commitment, the finalinvestigation and determination, the review etc. The focus of India’s subsidy policy isindustrial and agricultural subsidies.Before2009, India had not launched any investigations on the countervailing,there had even no countervailing content on the website of the Ministry of Commerceand Industry. However, India filed a countervailing investigation for the exportof sodium nitrite from China for the first time in January2009. Although thecomplaining party withdrew and anti-subsidy investigations terminated ultimately, weshould pay attention to this all the same. Researching on legal system of subsidies andcountervailing in India has major implications for China’s foreign trade development,for example, to improve the level of the countervailing duty law in China, to modifythe subsidy polices, to implement countervailing investigation, to grant the competentauthorities greater discretionary power and so on, which will play an important rolefor the future of China’s response to countervailing duty investigations from the othercountries.