In a Federal Register notice published today, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced that Five-Year Sunset Reviews of the antidumping duty orders on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from Brazil, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam are scheduled to be initiated in March 2016.
Commerce explains that once the Sunset Reviews are initiated, if the agency receives a Notice of Intent to Participate from a member of the domestic industry within 15 days of the date of initiation, the Reviews will continue. If a Notice of Intent to Participate has been filed, any interested party wishing to participate in Commerce’s Sunset Review must provide substantive comments in response to the notice of initiation no later than 30 days after the date of initiation.
The Uruguay Rounds Agreements Act in 1994 requires Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to conduct reviews no later than five years after an antidumping duty order is issued to determine whether revoking the order would lead to the continuation or recurrence of dumping (Commerce) and of material injury to the domestic industry (ITC). The Sunset Reviews to be initiated in March 2016 will be the second sunset reviews of the antidumping duty orders on frozen warmwater shrimp.
While Commerce will investigate whether foreign exporters are likely to dump shrimp into the U.S. market if antidumping duties are removed, the ITC will evaluate the likely impact on the domestic industry resulting from the loss of trade relief. The ITC’s website explains that:
In five-year reviews, the Commission determines whether revocation of the antidumping or countervailing duty order would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to the U.S. industry. If the Commission’s determination is affirmative, the order will remain in place. If the Commission’s determination is negative, the order will be revoked.
The ITC’s Sunset Review process typically takes a year to complete. The ITC’s website additionally explains that:
Approximately 95 days after publication in the Federal Register of the Commission’s notice of institution of the five-year review, the Commission will decide whether to conduct a full or expedited five-year review. If the Commission decides to conduct a full five-year review, it will typically complete the review within 360 days of initiation. However, if interested party responses to the Commission’s notice of institution are inadequate, the Commission can make an expedited determination within 150 days. Both Commerce and the Commission have the authority to extend these deadlines by up to 90 days in all transition reviews and other extraordinarily complicated cases.
If the ITC determines to conduct a full five-year review, questionnaires will be issued to both domestic and foreign producers of shrimp, U.S. importers and U.S. purchasers. Generic examples of these questionnaires can be obtained at the ITC’s website at the following link: https://usitc.gov/trade_remedy/question.htm
Before the ITC determines whether to conduct full Sunset Reviews, the domestic shrimp industry must submit substantive responses to the notices of initiation of the Reviews. As part of this substantive response, the domestic industry will be asked to provide information regarding the operations of individual businesses within the shrimp industry in 2015. In anticipation of the need to submit this information to the ITC, the Southern Shrimp Alliance has prepared forms for industry members wishing to support the continuation of trade relief. Separate forms have been developed for (1) shrimp fishermen; (2) shrimp farms; (3) shrimp processors; and (4) shrimp wholesalers, non-processing shoreside facilities, and shrimp industry associations.
We ask that these forms be completed and sent to the law firm representing the Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee in the administrative proceedings related to the antidumping duty orders no later than March 16, 2016 at:
Laura Riley
Picard Kentz & Rowe LLP
1750 K Street, N.W.
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
The completion and submission of the form will identify the business as a member of the Ad Hoc Shrimp Industry Committee (AHSIC) for the purposes of participation in the ITC’s Sunset Reviews. Because the information to be completed in the form involves business information, information provided within the tables regarding 2015 operations will be submitted to the agency along with a request for confidential treatment unless the person completing the form indicates that they wish to have such information made public.
The Federal Register notice indicating that Sunset Reviews of the antidumping duty orders on shrimp is available here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Antidumping-or-Countervailing-Duty-Order-Finding-or-Suspended-Investigation-Advance-Notification-of-Sunset-Reviews-2-3-16.pdf
Additional information regarding Commerce’s practices and procedures in Sunset Reviews can be found here: http://enforcement.trade.gov/sunset/
Additional information regarding the ITC’s practices and procedures in Sunset Reviews can be found here: http://pubapps2.usitc.gov/sunset/
The Ad Hoc Shrimp Industry Committee form for shrimp fishermen is here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ad-Hoc-Shrimp-Industry-Committee-Form-_Shrimper_.pdf
The Ad Hoc Shrimp Industry Committee form for shrimp farmers is here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ad-Hoc-Shrimp-Industry-Committee-Form-_Farm_.pdf
The Ad Hoc Shrimp Industry Committee form for shrimp processors is here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ad-Hoc-Shrimp-Industry-Committee-Form-_Processor_-Revised.pdf
The Ad Hoc Shrimp Industry Committee form for shrimp wholesalers, non-processing shoreside facilities, and shrimp industry associations is here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ad-Hoc-Shrimp-Industry-Committee-Form-_Wholesaler-Unloading-Dock-Association_.pdf