Supreme Court: Anti-dumping duty on CFLs from China/Hongkong - retroactive collection ruled out

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal regarding the imposition of anti-dumping duty on Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) imported from China and Hongkong. Relying on precedent, the Court held that duty could not be collected retroactively after the provisional duty period ended. The impugned order was set aside, and pending applications were disposed of accordingly, with no costs awarded.

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Issues involved: Imposition of anti-dumping duty on Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) imported from the Peoples Republic of China and Hongkong, retroactive duty collection.

Imposition of anti-dumping duty: The judgment pertains to the imposition of anti-dumping duty on Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) imported from China and Hongkong. The Kerala High Court's decision on this matter was under appeal before the Supreme Court, along with other related appeals. The Court referred to the WTO Agreement and Customs Rules, along with Section 9 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. It was held that duty for the period after the provisional duty lapsed could not be collected retroactively. This principle was established in the case of Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore Vs. G.M. Exports & Others (2016) 1 SCC 91. Therefore, in line with this precedent, the present appeal was allowed, and the impugned order was set aside.

Retroactive duty collection: The Supreme Court allowed the present appeal based on the judgment in Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore Vs. G.M. Exports & Others, which determined that duty could not be collected retroactively after the provisional duty period had lapsed. As a result, the impugned order was set aside, and no costs were awarded. Any pending applications were also disposed of in light of this decision.

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