Quick answer
Marg Tax Advisors LLP is a trade remedies lawyer in India covering all three remedies the Directorate General of Trade Remedies administers: anti-dumping duty under Section 9A, countervailing duty under Section 9, and safeguard measures under the Safeguard Duty Rules, 1997. Anti-dumping and countervailing duty both require a finding of unfair trade, while a safeguard measure needs only a sudden import surge causing serious injury. The firm also handles sunset, new shipper, scope, mid-term and anti-circumvention proceedings, and appeals to CESTAT under Section 9C, from an office in Noida, Delhi NCR.
Marg Tax Advisors LLP is a trade remedies lawyer in India across all three remedies the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) administers: anti-dumping duty, countervailing duty and safeguard measures, for domestic industry petitioners, foreign exporters and importers alike, with an in-house chartered accountant capability on every file rather than only a legal team.
The three remedies share a common home at DGTR but rest on different legal tests, and treating them as interchangeable is a common and costly mistake. Anti-dumping and countervailing duty both require a finding of unfair trade, pricing below normal value in one case and a government subsidy in the other, while a safeguard measure can apply even where trade is entirely fair, triggered instead by a sudden surge in imports.
What Our Trade Remedies Lawyer Team Handles
- Anti-dumping investigations, for domestic industry, exporters and importers alike.
- Countervailing duty investigations addressing a specific subsidy conferred by a foreign government.
- Safeguard measure applications and defence where a sudden import surge is causing or threatening serious injury.
- Sunset reviews, new shipper reviews, scope reviews and mid-term reviews across all three remedies.
- Anti-circumvention investigations, where an existing duty is allegedly being avoided through a change in the product or its origin.
- Appeals to CESTAT under Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 against a DGTR or customs determination.
The Three Remedies at a Glance
Choosing the wrong remedy, or drafting a petition on the wrong legal test, costs time that a statutory timeline rarely gives back. These are the distinctions that decide which proceeding a matter belongs in.
| Remedy | Statutory Basis | What Has To Be Shown |
|---|---|---|
Anti-Dumping DutyUnfair trade |
Section 9A, Customs Tariff Act, 1975 | Export price below normal value, material injury to domestic industry, and a causal link between the two |
Countervailing DutyUnfair trade |
Section 9, Customs Tariff Act, 1975 | A specific financial contribution from a foreign government conferring a benefit, plus material injury to domestic industry |
Safeguard MeasureNo unfair trade needed |
Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997, as amended | A sudden, sharp and recent increase in imports causing or threatening serious injury, a materially higher injury standard |
Anti-Dumping Duty: Countering Underpriced Imports
Anti-dumping duty under Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 addresses goods exported to India below their normal value, where that pricing causes material injury to domestic industry. This is the remedy we handle most often, and this page keeps the anti-dumping summary brief so the fuller treatment lives in one place.
Go deeper on anti-dumping
- The investigation process, the lesser duty rule, sunset review timing and CESTAT appeals are covered in full on our Anti-Dumping Lawyer India page.
Countervailing Duty: Countering Subsidised Imports
Countervailing duty under Section 9 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 addresses goods that benefit from a specific financial contribution from a foreign government, conferring a benefit on the producer or exporter, where that subsidised pricing causes injury to domestic industry. The investigation runs on a broadly similar procedural track to an anti-dumping case, through DGTR, with questionnaires, verification and a final determination, but the substantive question is different: instead of comparing export price to normal value, the case turns on identifying the subsidy programme, quantifying the benefit it confers, and establishing that the subsidy is specific to an enterprise, industry or group rather than generally available.
As a trade remedies lawyer in India handling countervailing duty matters, Marg Tax Advisors works through the subsidy programme itself, since a subsidy that is broadly available across an economy is treated differently from one that is specific to a favoured industry, and that distinction is frequently where a countervailing duty case is won or lost.
Go deeper on countervailing duty
- The three-part subsidy test and how benefit is actually quantified are set out on our Countervailing Duty Consultant India page.
Safeguard Measures: Responding to a Surge in Imports
A safeguard measure, governed by the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997, as amended, does not require any finding of unfair trade. It applies where a sudden, sharp and recent increase in imports of a product is causing or threatening serious injury to domestic industry, a materially higher standard than the injury test used in anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases. Where a safeguard measure is imposed, it can take the form of a duty or a tariff-rate quota rather than a duty alone, and is generally meant to be temporary, giving domestic industry time to adjust to import competition rather than protecting it indefinitely.
Review and Circumvention Proceedings: Beyond the Original Investigation
A trade remedy rarely ends with the original determination. Each of these follow-on proceedings has its own timeline and evidentiary standard, and we handle all of them, not only the original investigation.
Sunset review
Examines whether an existing duty should continue as it approaches the end of its term. Without a positive finding, the duty generally lapses.
New shipper review
Lets an exporter that did not export during the original investigation period obtain its own margin instead of the residual rate.
Scope and mid-term review
A scope review clarifies whether a specific product falls within an existing duty's coverage; a mid-term review reconsiders a duty's level where circumstances have materially changed.
Anti-circumvention
Examines whether a duty is being avoided through minor product modification, assembly operations, or routing through a third country.
Multi-Forum Representation: DGTR and CESTAT
A DGTR finding or a customs notification imposing anti-dumping, countervailing or safeguard duty is appealed to the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal under Section 9C of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, not through the ordinary customs appellate route used for classification or valuation matters. Marg Tax Advisors represents clients at DGTR through the investigation itself and, where a finding needs to be challenged, at CESTAT.
What representation looks like in practice
- Questionnaire responses, verification visits, confidentiality treatment, hearings and the disclosure and rejoinder stage are covered on our DGTR Representation Consultant page.
Why a Combined Trade Remedies Lawyer and Chartered Accountant Team Matters
Numbers inside the legal case
Dumping margins, subsidy quantification and injury analysis are financial exercises that sit inside a legal proceeding, not separate from it, which is why the same team handles both on every file.
Close to DGTR
DGTR is headquartered in Delhi, and our office in Noida, Delhi NCR means hearings and disclosure meetings do not depend on travel from another city.
Continuity across proceedings
A client's history across a sunset review, a new shipper review or an anti-circumvention investigation does not need to be re-explained to a new advisor each time a proceeding follows the original one.
Who You'll Work With
Shashank Shekhar Gupta
Founder, Chartered Accountant and Lawyer
Trade remedies matters at Marg Tax Advisors are led by Shashank Shekhar Gupta, founder of the firm, a Chartered Accountant and a lawyer who chairs the International Trade Law Committee of the Indian Industries Association, North India’s largest association of MSME manufacturers, many of whom sit on the domestic industry side of these proceedings.