Articles

Proposed E-commerce Amendment Rules – Whether reasonable to comply with?

The Government of India through its Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in exercise of its powers conferred under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 had notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (‘E-commerce Rules’). The Government has now, on 21 June 2021, proposed certain amendments in the E-commerce Rules and is receiving comments or suggestions from the stakeholders.

Revision in requirements for applications by the domestic industry - A balancing act by DGTR

The provisions relating to conduct of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations in India are contained in the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, and the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 (‘AD Rules’) and the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Countervailing Duty on Subsidized Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 (‘CVD Rules’) made therein under.

Bill of Supply whether a tax invoice for issuance of GST debit/credit note?

GST as a law has been very dynamic with amendments happening day in and day out as the legislature and the subjects learn from implementing the law to the practical aspects of the business. One of the recent amendments to the law is the amendment to sub-section (4) to Section 16 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 (‘CGST Act’) which was made effective from 1 January 2021.

Coverage v. Disclosure – IPAB decides on what amounts to coverage and disclosure

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board (‘IPAB’) in an order dated 29 September 2020 allowed the appeal filed by Novartis AG (‘Appellant’) challenging the revocation of Indian Patent No. 276026 (IN’026) by the Deputy Controller of Patents & Designs, New Delhi (‘Respondent No. 2’) following post-grant opposition proceedings initiated by Natco Pharma Limited (‘Respondent No. 3’), and set aside the revocation order (‘impugned order’) as being ‘devoid of merit’.

Cess: An allowable expenditure under the Income-tax Act?

It is a settled principle statutorily that the income tax paid by a taxpayer on its income is not allowed as a deductible expenditure under the provisions of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’). The term ‘income-tax’ has not been defined under the provisions of the Act, however, the term ‘tax’ has been defined to mean income-tax chargeable under the provisions of the Act. Section 4 of the Act creates a charge of tax on the total income of the previous year of a person.

Limitation for filing of appeals under Section 37 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act

Section 37 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (‘Act’) provides for an appeal against orders passed under Sections 9, 34, 16 and 17 of the Act. The Act does not provide any specific limitation for filing such appeals, however, Section 43 of the Act provides that the Limitation Act, 1963 (‘Limitation Act’) shall apply to arbitrations as it applies to proceedings in Court.

Introduction of the ‘On-going Projects’ regime under CSR – A Welcome Move

Though the primary objective of Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) was not slated to be to bridge resource gap for the Government, the second wave of the pandemic Covid-19 has once again brought back into light the participation of Corporate India in supplementing the efforts of the Government.

License dues trump the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code?

De-minimis dumping margin: Termination of an anti-dumping investigation?

On 7 May 2021, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (‘DGTR’) concluded the anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of ‘Plain Medium Density Fibre Board having thickness 6mm and above’ (‘subject goods’) produced by Kim Tin MDF Joint Stock Company, Vietnam (‘Kim Tin’) by terminating the investigation. Though the termination of this investigation is not unusual, the reasons for the termination of the investigation are interesting.

Blockchain technology on the CCI’s radar

Businesses constantly seek to innovate to obtain an edge over their competition and sometimes this leads to particularly noteworthy innovations that become disruptive forces within the market segment. This allows the innovator to determine their own price for their products and operate independent of the market forces of supply and demand

Improved system of e-way bill and its implications on the business

Implementation of e-way bill system under the Goods and Services Tax regime has been an excruciating exercise for the Government as well as the taxpayers. While Government was initially grappling for timely enforcement of e-way bill system due to inherent constraints in the portal, the taxpayers were finding it difficult to cope up with the frequent amendments in the e-way bill related rules.

Managing the impact of Covid-19 – Navigating cross-border tax questions in India

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed catastrophic outcomes. The limited experience of handling such a crisis in India has already revealed its overbearing effect on business and industry, while the tax landscape has also faced significant transformation. In an interconnected world, some of the issues that have arisen in the context of cross-border taxation have created concern, with the potential of leading to far-reaching implications. Some of these issues are considered in detail in this article.