May 23, 2003

We wish to update you with regard to an important deadline by which Canadian exporters of softwood lumber and U.S. importers of this merchandise must file requests with the U.S. Dept. of Commerce for the purpose of hopefully lowering their AD and CVD duty rates.  Such requests, and the appropriate copies, must be filed and received at Commerce in Washington, DC, by Friday, May 30, 2003.  In addition, any requests filed with Commerce must be served on all of the parties on the service list.

Under the applicable Commerce statutes and regulations, an exporter or importer of the subject merchandise may file a request with Commerce to review and possibly obtain a lower company-specific AD and CVD rate.  The "all other" antidumping duty rate established for the softwood lumber AD order is 8.43%, and the "all other" CVD rate is 18.79%. 

In general practice, AD and CVD reviews must be filed during the "anniversary" month of the AD and CVD order.  For the softwood lumber orders, the anniversary month is May, which means that all requests for review of the AD and CVD rates must be filed during the month of May.  Thus, Canadian exporters and U.S. importers of softwood have until May 30, 2003, to file their requests with Commerce.

Unfortunately, due to certain legal complexities, the period of review for these requests is not altogether clear.  Although the starting point for the period of review would be May 22, 2002, it is unclear as to the end of the period of review.

In addition, because of the way in which the investigation was conducted, it is not certain at this point as to whether company-specific rates can be obtained.  This will be made clear when Commerce publishes its Notice of Initiation of the Administrative Reviews in June 2003.

If a Canadian exporter was subject to the "all other" AD or CVD rate or received an adverse rate in the expedited CVD review, we would strongly urge that the U.S. importer or the Canadian exporter file requests with Commerce by May 30, 2003, to protect the right to proceed with such reviews.  Information in Commerce's Notice of Initiation, which will be published in the Federal Register in June 2003, will provide more information to interested parties as to whether they wish to proceed.

Even if a company is not sure by May 30, 2003, whether or not it wants to go through the administrative review process, applicants who file always have the opportunity of withdrawing their requests within 90 days after Commerce initiates its proceedings.  However, if the company fails to file by the May 30, 2003, deadline, it is barred from obtaining a lower rate for the period of the review.

The Law Offices of George R. Tuttle, PC, specialize in the area of antidumping and international trade.  If you require assistance in filing these requests or wish any additional information on this matter, please email Steve Spraitzar at sss@tuttlelaw.com or contact him by telephone at (415) 288-0427.  You may also contact George R. Tuttle at grt@tuttlelaw.com or by phone at (415) 288-0425.

 

Stephen Spraitzar and George Tuttle are attorneys with the Law Offices of George R. Tuttle in San Francisco.  The information in this article is general in nature and is not intended to constitute legal advice or to create an attorney-client relationship with respect to any event or occurrence, and may not be considered such.