In Brief
Steel importing companies challenged a government order introducing Minimum Import Prices (MIP) on steel products. The order was uploaded on February 5, 2016, but officially published in the Gazette on February 11, 2016. The companies had opened Letters of Credit before the Gazette publication date. The Supreme Court held that delegated legislation acquires legal force only upon Gazette publication, not from website uploads. "Date of Notification" must mean the Gazette publication date (February 11, 2016). Since the companies opened their Letters of Credit before that date, they qualified for transitional protection under the Foreign Trade Policy exempting pre-existing credits from MIP requirements.
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