Leibowitz: A Reprieve for Importers in Countervailing Duty Cases

Since 1997, the US Department of Commerce has had a regulation permitting an “expedited review” of subsidy determinations in countervailing duty investigations. The importers of subject merchandise in these cases are often denied individual subsidy rates because Commerce lacks the resources to investigate every company. 

To compensate for the department’s insufficient resources, any company not investigated, as long as it has not failed to cooperate in the investigation, may request an expedited review of that company’s actual subsidy margins. The 1997 Commerce regulation requires that the exporter request the review within 30 days after the publication of the countervailing duty order in question. The review will then be initiated in the following calendar month.