Page 76 - ELT_2nd_15th April 2020_Vol 372_Part

B8 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 372

Provided that no such measure shall be applied on an article originat-
ing from a developing country so long as the share of imports of that arti-
cle from that country does not exceed three per cent. or where the article is
originating from more than one developing country, then, so long as the
aggregate of the imports from each of such developing countries with less
than three per cent. import share taken together, does not exceed nine per
cent. of the total imports of that article into India :
Provided further that the Central Government may, by notification in
the Official Gazette, exempt such quantity of any article as it may specify
in the notification, when imported from any country or territory into India,
from payment of the whole or part of the safeguard duty leviable thereon.
(3) Where tariff-rate quota is used as a safeguard measure, the Cen-
tral Government shall not fix such quota lower than the average level of
imports in the last three representative years for which statistics are avail-
able, unless a different level is deemed necessary to prevent or remedy se-
rious injury.
(4) The Central Government may allocate such tariff-rate quota to
supplying countries having a substantial interest in supplying the article
concerned, in such manner as may be provided by rules.
(5) The Central Government may, pending the determination under
sub-section (1), apply provisional safeguard measures under this sub-
section on the basis of a preliminary determination that increased imports
have caused or threatened to cause serious injury to a domestic industry :
Provided that where, on final determination, the Central Government
is of the opinion that increased imports have not caused or threatened to
cause serious injury to a domestic industry, it shall refund the safeguard
duty so collected :
Provided further that any provisional safeguard measure shall not
remain in force for more than two hundred days from the date on which it
was applied.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-
sections, a notification issued under sub-section (1) or any safeguard
measures applied under sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5), shall not apply to
articles imported by a hundred per cent, export-oriented undertaking or a
unit in a special economic zone, unless -
(i) it is specifically made applicable in such notification or to
such undertaking or unit;
(ii) such article is either cleared as such into the domestic tar-
iff area or used in the manufacture of any goods that are cleared in-
to the domestic tariff area, in which case, safeguard measures shall
be applied on the portion of the article so cleared or used, as was
applicable when it was imported into India.
Explanation. — For the purposes of this section, the expressions “hun-
dred per cent, export-oriented undertaking”, and “special economic zone”
shall have the same meaning as assigned to them in Explanation 2 to sub-
section (1) of section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944).

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