Commerce announced its intent to initiate in June a five-year “sunset” review of the antidumping duty order on IQF red raspberries from Chile to determine whether the orders should be continued for the next five years or revoked.
Sunset reviews are conducted by both the Department of Commerce (DOC) and the International Trade Commission (ITC). Commerce determines whether revocation of the order would be likely to lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping. Commerce also determines the magnitude of the dumping margin, if any, that would be likely to exist if the order were revoked. The ITC determines whether revocation of the order would lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury to the U.S. industry.
Within 15 days of initiation, one or more U.S. producers must formally state their intent to participate in the sunset review. If no U.S. producer files a Notice of Intent to Participate in the review, Commerce will automatically revoke the order.
Assuming U.S. producers file timely statements that they intend to participate in the review, they must then file substantive information with Commerce within 30 days of the notice of initiation. This includes information and arguments as to the dumping margin that is likely to prevail if the order is revoked and the likely effects of revoking the order. If no U.S. producer files an adequate substantive response, Commerce will revoke the order.
In most cases, respondents (i.e., foreign producers and exporters) are also required to file information within 30 days of the notice of initiation. If respondents do not file adequate responses, Commerce may expedite its review. In this event, Commerce bases its determination on “facts available,” which are inferences that are adverse to the interests of the party that failed to provide required information. The results of expedited reviews must be issued no later than 120 days after the notice of initiation.
If both the U.S. producers and the respondents file information with Commerce, the parties have five days in which to submit rebuttal comments.
Assuming all required parties file adequate substantive responses, Commerce will conduct a “full” review. It must issue preliminary results of the review within 110 days after the notice of initiation, and may conduct on-site verification of information submitted by the respondents. Final results are typically issued 240 days after the notice of initiation, although this can be extended to 330 days. If Commerce concludes that revocation of the order is not likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping, it will revoke the order.
The schedule for the ITC's proceeding overlaps the Commerce schedule. Parties are required to file certain substantive information with the ITC within 50 days of the notice of initiation. Based on those submissions and arguments submitted by the parties, the agency determines whether it will conduct an expedited or full review. For example, if the ITC concludes that some or all of the information submitted is inadequate, it may conduct an expedited review. If the ITC decides to conduct an expedited review, it relies on “facts available” to reach its determination. As indicated above, this is typically adverse to the interests of the party(s) that failed to submit adequate information. The ITC’s final determination in an expedited review would occur no more than 150 days after initiation.
If a full review is conducted, the ITC issues extensive questionnaires for industry participants to complete, conducts a hearing and considers briefs submitted by the parties. It typically issues its final determination not later than 360 days after initiation, although that period can be extended.
If the ITC determines revoking the order is not likely to lead to recurrence or continuation of material injury to the U.S. industry, the order will be revoked. In contrast, if both Commerce and the ITC make affirmative determinations, the order will be continued at least until the next sunset review is conducted.
If the order is revoked at any point during the sunset review, the effective date of the revocation is the date of the notice of initiation. Even though importers may have been required to make cash deposits of estimated dumping duties during the time that the sunset review was under way, if the order is revoked, those duties would be refunded, plus interest, retroactive to the date of initiation.
