Reminder on ITA's "New Policy" of Assessing Certain Resellers/Intermediaries at the "All Others" AD Rate (Instead of the Producer's Rate, Etc.)

The ITA stated that the purpose of its clarification was to provide all parties with the methodology the ITA will use to determine the proper AD assessment rate for merchandise from market economies when resellers are in the chain of commerce between the producer and the sale to a customer for importation into the U.S.

The ITA also stated that this clarification allows interested parties to make an informed determination about whether to request a review of a reseller.

Affected Entries Are Beginning to Liquidate Under the New Assessment Policy

According to sources at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the trade is beginning to feel the effect of the ITA's 2003 policy as affected AD entries are starting to liquidate. Sources add that this is the case for certain bearings from market economies that are subject to AD duties, as the bearings market involves a number of resellers.

Text of New Assessment Policy

When automatic liquidation applies to a reseller that does not have its own AD rate. Automatic liquidation at the cash deposit rate required at the time of entry can only apply to a reseller which does not have its own rate if no administrative review has been requested, either of the reseller or of any producer of merchandise the reseller exported to the U.S.

When automatic liquidation does not apply to a reseller that does not have its own rate, etc. If the ITA conducts an administrative review of a producer of the reseller's merchandise where entries of the merchandise were suspended at the producer's rate, automatic liquidation will not apply to the reseller's sales.

If, in the course of an administrative review, the ITA determines that the producer knew, or should have known, that the merchandise it sold to the reseller was destined for the U.S., the reseller's merchandise will be liquidated at the producer's assessment rate which the ITA calculates for the producer in the review.

If, on the other hand, the ITA determines in the administrative review that the producer did not know that the merchandise it sold to the reseller was destined for the U.S., the reseller's merchandise will not be liquidated at the assessment rate the ITA determines for the producer or automatically at the rate required as a deposit a the time of entry. In that situation, the entries of merchandise from the reseller during the period of review will be liquidated at the all others rate if there was no company-specific review of the reseller for that review period.

New Assessment Policy Does Not Apply to NME Countries or CV Duty Orders

The ITA states that this clarification addresses the assessment of AD duties on imports of merchandise from a market-economy country and subject to an AD duty order. The ITA further states that this clarification does not apply to imports of merchandise from non-market-economy (NME) countries which may be subject to an AD duty order. In addition, the ITA states that this clarification does not apply to imports of merchandise subject to a countervailing (CV) duty order because this issue does not arise in the subsidy enforcement context.

Effective Date of New Policy

According to the ITA, this clarification applies to all entries for which the anniversary month for requesting an administrative review of an AD duty order is May 2003 or later.

(See ITA notice for more information, including comments and ITA responses. See ITT's Online Archives or 06/02/03 news, 03060245 for original BP summary of this 2003 ITA clarification.).

ITA notice on clarification (FR Pub 05/06/03) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-11226.pdf ; alsoavailable at http://ia.ita.doc.gov/assessment/new/reseller-announcement-05-02-2003.html

ITA notice stating that clarification applies to most recent May anniversary date notice (FR Pub 05/15/03) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2003/pdf/03-12185.pdf

BP Note

CP has posted the ITA's May 6, 2003 Federal Register notice to its Web site. According to CBP sources, CBP is implementing it "as is" and there are no further interpretive CBP instructions for the trade at this time.