Government monitors the measures/actions being taken by countries including the WTO member countries which Government considers as inconsistent with the existing agreement or otherwise, and take up the matter in the appropriate forum in case the measure impacts India’s exports. India has taken up such issues either at the bilateral level or multilateral level (under WTO Committee meetings or the WTO Dispute Settlement System). In the recent past, India had taken up such matters with the importing countries and had been successful in such matters to a large extent. A few of them are:-

(i) Successful negotiation leading to replacement of the inconsistent EU Regulation 1383/2003 by EU Regulation 608/2013 on the issue related to seizure of Indian drugs in transit.

(ii) Result oriented outcome in trade remedial actions such as the withdrawal of safeguard duty by Turkey on cotton yarn, safeguard duty by Egypt on cotton fabric and cotton yarn etc. Amongst the major success in recent times, one of them of significant interest is the WTO ruling in India’s favour is related to a WTO Dispute filed by India against the exorbitant inconsistent Countervailing Duty (CVD) measures imposed by the United States on certain steel products.

The Government has also initiated and taken measures under Trade remedies discipline on account of unfair trade, if any, by the exporting country, within the ambit of WTO agreement.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today

Trade remedies and WTO challenges to reverse inconsistent import measures and protect exporters' market access. The Government monitors and challenges import measures affecting Indian exporters through bilateral engagement, WTO Committee processes, and the WTO dispute settlement system, while also deploying trade remedies against unfair foreign practices. Recent actions cited include negotiated regulatory replacement to address transit seizures, withdrawal of safeguard duties on textile inputs by some countries, and a WTO dispute concerning inconsistent countervailing duty measures on steel, reflecting a combined strategy of monitoring, diplomacy, multilateral litigation, and trade remedy use to protect export market access.