After dumping duties, US slaps ISO norms on steel

Apart from anti-dumping actions, Washington is employing ISO quality standards as yet another device to deny market access for iron and stee...

Apart from anti-dumping actions, Washington is employing ISO quality standards as yet another device to deny market access for iron and steel products from India and other countries.

New Delhi has expressed concern at the move calling it as a non-tariff barrier, thereby violating the principle of free trade.

Companies such as IBM and Volvo insist that their suppliers meet the requirements of ISO standards, knowing that the latter is ill-equipped to do so, commerce ministry officials explain. This results in suppliers being dropped from the supply chain, they add.

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At home, officials say, the government is in the process of evolving a appropriate regulatory and monitoring mechanism to promote ISO certification system. A ‘comprehensive’ exercise is proposed to determine the existing practices relating to usage, validity and authenticity of ISO certification systems and ISO certificates.

The proposal is also designed to provide safeguards against incorrect usage/malpractices. For this, it is proposed to collect, compile and analyse information from ministries/departments/public sector enterprises/ organisations concerned, officials added.

They explain that non-tariff measures are instruments to restrict the free movement of goods from one country to another. These measures are so-called as their application as a means of blocking the free movement of goods are different from the more popularly used instrument — tariff barriers. Officials say developed countries, including the US, target various export promotion schemes put in place by New Delhi over the years for countervailing duty investigations.

The schemes include duty entitlement passbook scheme, export promotion capital goods scheme, pre and post shipment export finance, exemption of export profit under Sections 80-HHC, 10A & 10B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and the steel development fund. In addition, some of the programmes such as octroi, sales tax exemption, financial assistance for infrastructure development being administered by several state governments are also being subjected to CVD investigations.