Facts:

The ACP Manufacturer Association filed an appeal before the CESTAT against the recommendations made by the Authority regarding imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of Flat Rolled Products of Aluminium including Colour Coated Aluminium Coils. Based on the recommendation, MOF imposed the anti-dumping duty vide Customs Notification No. 68/2021 – Customs (ADD) dated 6^th December 2021.

The appellant alleged that the domestic industry does not produce Colour Coated Aluminium Coils in commercial volumes. It was further alleged, that the domestic industry currently does not even have the capacity to produce Colour Coated Aluminium Coils. There was also no evidence regarding any investment made by the domestic industry in the production facilities of the said product as manufacturing Colour Coated Aluminium Coils involves significant investment.

Accordingly, the appellant sought that Colour Coated Aluminium Coils be excluded from the from imposition of anti-dumping duty retrospectively with effect from the date of issuance of Customs Notification, that is, 6^th December 2021. Appellant also sought refund of the excess duty collected on the import of Colour Coated Aluminium Coils during this period.

Issue:

The sole issue involved in the present case before the Tribunal was whether Colour Coated Aluminium Coils, that was not produced by the domestic industry in commercial volumes, should be excluded from the product on which anti-dumping duty has been levied.

Decision:

The Tribunal held that the domestic industry failed to produce any evidence before the Authority or the Tribunal to substantiate that it has the capacity to produce like article to Colour Coated Coils in commercial volumes. While the domestic industry provided evidence to the Authority that some job workers were painting Aluminium Coil to produce Colour Coated Aluminium Coils, the product under issue is not manufactured through such process. Colour Coated Aluminium Coils are manufactured using coating machines, which cost about ₹ 5 crore to produce 150 MT. In order to fulfil the demand in India, 20 coating machines will be required which entail an investment of ₹ 100 crores. Further, the domestic industry should have provided details of production capacity and the volume of sales in domestic market in order to prove that it manufactures Colour Coated Aluminium Coils.

Further, there was also no evidence that the imports of Colour Coated Aluminium Coils would cause any injury to the domestic industry since like article for the same are not being manufactured and sold by it. Therefore, in view of lack of any evidence to substantiate the claim made by the domestic industry, the Tribunal concluded that domestic industry does not manufacture or produce like article for the Colour Coated Aluminium Coils being imported. Accordingly, such Coils were excluded from the scope of the levy.