• DGTR is an attached office of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• The DGTR is a quasi-judicial body that independently undertakes investigations before making its recommendations to the Central Government.
• It is the single national authority for administering all trade remedial measures including anti-dumping, countervailing duties and safeguard measures.

Anti-dumping duty: 

• Against dumping of foreign goods: The government imposes anti-dumping duty on foreign imports when it believes that the goods are being “dumped” through the low pricing in the domestic market.
  • It is imposed to protect local businesses and markets from unfair competition by foreign imports.
• Exporter-specific and country-specific: The levy of anti-dumping duty is both exporter-specific and country-specific. It extends to the imports from only that country in respect of which dumping has been alleged and the complaint has been filed and duty recommended. 

Safeguard Duty

• It refers to the steps taken by the government of a nation to shield its domestic industries from unfair competition brought on by a surge in imports.
• Sunset clauses: Safeguard duties must typically contain sunset clauses, and are usually imposed by an importing country against all other nations (as opposed to one specific member country).