- (1.) This batch of civil appeals under Section 130E of the Customs Act, 1962 (for short "the Act") arises out of a common judgment and order, dated 9th September 2005, passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (for short "the Tribunal) whereby the appeals filed by the appellants herein, have been dismissed and the levy of anti-dumping duty, imposed under Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (for short "the Tariff Act") vide Notification 36/2005-Cus dated 27th April 2005 has been affirmed.
(2.) As common questions of law are involved in all the appeals and even the background facts are identical, these are being disposed of by this common judgment. However, to appreciate the controversy and the rival stands thereon, we shall refer to the facts in Civil Appeal No. 949 of 2006 as illustrative: The appellant in this appeal viz. Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (for short "ATMA"), is an association representing domestic tyre manufacturing units, who import Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric (for short "NTCF") from various countries, including China, as one of their basic raw materials for manufacture of tyres. Sometime in 2003, the Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry (for short "ASFI"), respondent No. 3 herein, filed an application under the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment & Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles & for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 (for short "the 1995 Rules") before the Designated Authority (hereinafter referred to as "the DA") inter-alia, praying for imposition of anti-dumping duty under Section 9A of the Act, on imports of NTCF from China. In their application, ASFI had specifically contended that China being a non-market economy country, normal value of the export price from that country had to be determined as per the principle contemplated in para 7 of Annexure I to the 1995 Rules.
(3.) Taking cognizance of the application, on 29th October 2003, the DA initiated investigation by issuing notification in terms of Rules 5 and 6 of the 1995 Rules, indicating the period of investigation from 1st April 2002 to 30th June 2003. After conducting investigations, the DA recorded preliminary findings and issued public notice in that behalf on 30th June 2004, vide Notification No. 14/20/2003-DGAD, recommending imposition of provisional anti-dumping duty at the rate of US $ 0.69 per Kg on NTCF originating in and exported from China. The recommendations made in the preliminary findings were accepted by the Central Government, and provisional anti-dumping duty was, accordingly, imposed vide Notification No. 72/2004-Cus, published on 26th July 2004. It would be of some significance to note here that the 2nd proviso to Rule 13 of the 1995 Rules postulates that the levy of provisional duty, in the first instance, can be for a period of six months, which may be extended by a further period of three months on the request of exporters representing a significant percentage of the trade involved.;