BOPA Film Buyers Must Sort Every Shipment by Micron Before 28 August

India's Directorate General of Trade Remedies has clarified the product scope and finalised the Product Control Number methodology for its anti-dumping investigation into imports of Biaxially Oriented Polyamide (BOPA) Film from China and Thailand, setting 28 August 2026 as the last date for interested parties to file questionnaire responses.

The communication, issued on 14 August 2026 under F. No. 6/38/2026-DGTR and carried on the SETU portal as Case ID AD/OI/036/2026, follows the initiation of the investigation on 24 June 2026. The Authority had invited comments on both the product scope and the proposed codification framework, and later extended that window to 23 July 2026. After examining submissions from the domestic industry and other interested parties, it has retained the product under consideration exactly as defined at initiation.

The scope covers BOPA film in all its common trade names, including Biaxially Oriented Nylon film, BOPA Nylon film and plain nylon film. The notification describes it as a high-performance flexible packaging film made from polyamide resin through biaxial orientation, valued for mechanical strength, isotropic properties, aroma and odour resistance, hot and cold forming resistance, oxygen and moisture barrier, and puncture resistance. Thicknesses in scope run from 12 microns to 30 microns, the unit of measurement is metric tons, and the film falls under Chapter 39, heading 3920, at tariff items 3920 92 19 and 3920 92 99. The Authority has noted that the customs classification is indicative and does not bind the scope of the investigation.

End-use demand is broad, which is what gives this case its reach. BOPA film goes into food and liquid packaging, and into pharmaceutical blister foils where it is laminated with PVC and aluminium foil for tablets and capsules. It is also used for edible oil, frozen foods, ketchup, retort products and dairy, and across household and personal care packaging for detergents, shampoo, shower gel, liquid handwash and dishwash.

What procurement and supply chain teams need to do now

The codification here is unusually simple, and that simplicity is the trap. The PCN turns on a single parameter, thickness, split into five bands: T12 for 12 microns exactly, T15 for above 12 and up to 15, T20 for above 15 and up to 20, T25 for above 20 and up to 25, and T30 for above 25 and up to 30. Because the bands are defined by exclusive lower limits and inclusive upper limits, borderline gauges sit precisely on the boundary, and a 15 micron film belongs in T15 while a 15.5 micron film belongs in T20. Buyers should reconcile nominal specification against actual measured thickness on mill certificates before assigning codes, since flexible packaging is routinely ordered on nominal gauge with a tolerance band. Teams should also pull twelve to eighteen months of bills of entry, map each consignment to a band, and confirm whether their supplier ships to nominal or to measured thickness, because a mismatch between declared PCN and shipping documents is the kind of inconsistency that invites residual duty treatment in the final determination.

Notably, the framework does not separate films by surface treatment, coating, layer structure or specialty function, so retort grades, easy-tear variants and coated films will report under the same code as commodity film of equivalent gauge. Parties who believe a particular grade is not comparable retain the option of filing a substantiated exclusion request, a route the notification expressly preserves.

Both confidential and non-confidential versions must be filed on the SETU portal within the timeline, and the Authority has stated that no further extension will be granted.