New Delhi, May 14 (KNN) The Indian government is working on establishing a verification system to assist exporters in addressing countervailing duty cases imposed on domestic products under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RODTEP) scheme.

This move comes as a response to countervailing or anti-subsidy duties imposed by the United States and the European Union (EU) on certain Indian units involved in the reimbursement of levies like electricity duty, VAT on fuel, or APMC taxes under the RODTEP scheme.

According to a government official, the duties were imposed on specific units because they failed to provide proper documentation to the investigating authorities.

To address this issue, the commerce ministry is guiding Indian exporters on maintaining proper documentation to deal with such cases effectively.

The official stated, "We will be giving guidance notes from Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) to units so that whenever an investigation happens, they should be in a position to give the proper documents."

In addition to examining the documents of units, the investigation authorities also assess the official verification mechanism to ensure that the government is randomly checking the incidence of duties.

The government is establishing a joint verification mechanism involving the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), DGTR, and the Department of Revenue (DoR).

Officials will randomly verify certain units on the issue and maintain records to substantiate the claims made by exporters under the RODTEP scheme.

The official explained, "Suppose we are giving RoDTEP reimbursement of 1.7 percent, then I need to convince myself from time to time that the unit's actual incidence of duties is not below 1.7 percent.”

He further mentioned, “So, we will be setting up this verification system. We will keep the records to show that we also have an official verification to check the incidence of duty."

The RODTEP scheme, implemented for exports from January 2021, aims to refund currently un-refunded taxes, duties, and levies incurred during the manufacturing and distribution of exported products.

The scheme is being implemented by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in an end-to-end IT environment and is compliant with World Trade Organisation (WTO) regulations.

(KNN Bureau)