Background – The DGTR issued Final Findings vide Notification No. 6/38/2020-DGTR dated 28^th September 2021 recommending imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of Decor Paper from China. Aggrieved by the said recommendation, one of the exporters namely, Hangzhou Huawang New Material Technology Company Limited and an Indian importer namely, Fakirsons Papchem Private Limited filed a Special Civil Application before the Hon’ble Gujarat High Court on 18^th October 2021, on the basis that the exporter has been treated as non-cooperative, despite it having filed a response.

Interim order by the Hon’ble High Court – The Hon’ble High Court issued an interim order stating that the DGTR shall look into the representation filed by the exporter and take a decision with regard to imposition of anti-dumping duty on exports by Hungzhou Huawang New Material Technology Company Limited.

Key Findings –

1. Following the principles of natural justice, a fresh oral hearing was conducted inviting all the interested parties registered in the original investigation.
2. The exporter withdrew its market economy treatment claim as filed in the original investigation and the normal value has been constructed based on cost of production of the domestic industry.  
3. Even though the High Court did not require the Authority to necessarily confer an individual margin on the exporters, the Authority had the discretion to do so.
4. The demand-supply gap is not justification for dumping in India. Even if there is a demand-supply gap, it is necessary that the product is available at fair prices in the market.
5. The subject goods produced by the domestic industry  are of requisite quality which is evident from the fact that the sales of domestic industry has increased.
6. The imposition of duty would remove unfair advantage gained by the dumping practices and prevent the decline in the performance of the domestic industry. It will also help to boost the availability of wider choice to the consumers.
7. The Authority has concluded that the present findings is a standalone case and the decision taken will not become precedence for other cases.

Margins and proposed duty –

Producer	Country	Dumping Margin (Range)	Injury Margin (Range)	Proposed Duty (US$/MT)
Kingdecor (Zhejiang) Company Limited	China	0-10	10-20	116
Shandong Boxing Ouhua Special Paper Company Limited and Zibo OU-MU Special Paper Company Limited	China	0-10	10-20	110
Hangzhou Huawang New Material Technology Co., Ltd.	China	20-30	40-50	297
Any other producer and exporter	China	30-40	50-60	542