OTEXA States EU and Japan Retaliatory Duties to Continue Until Byrd Amendment Disbursements Cease
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has issued a notice stating that the European Union and Japan have indicated that they will continue to apply retaliatory duties on certain U.S. exports until all U.S. disbursements of antidumping duties collected under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA, also known as the Byrd Amendment) cease.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Byrd Amendment Repealed, but Certain Disbursements Continue
The U.S. repealed1 the Byrd Amendment in 2006; however, a two-year transition clause allowed Byrd Amendment collections to continue until October 1, 2007. These collected AD duties are to be disbursed on an annual basis to affected domestic producers for specified qualifying expenditures, as if the law had not been repealed.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the amount of money available for distribution can be expected to diminish after October 1, 2007. In addition, a 2006 Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate suggested that distributions would begin to fall appreciably in fiscal year (FY) 2010 (starting October 1, 2009).
(In December 2007, CBP issued a press release announcing that it had paid out $264 million in CDSOA claims in FY 2007. See ITT's Online Archives or 12/13/07 news, 07121350 3, for BP summary.)
EU and Japan Applying Additional 15% Duty to Certain Products in Retaliation
Since 2005, both the EC and Japan have applied an additional 15% duty to certain U.S.-origin products as a retaliatory measure associated with the Byrd Amendment. The EU has twice expanded its sanctions to cover additional U.S. products, while the scope of Japan's sanctions have remained the same.
OTEXA states that U.S. products subject to EU sanctions include certain apparel products, footwear, paper products, plastic furniture, pens, and mobile homes. The U.S. products Japan has sanctioned include certain bearings, steel products, navigational instruments, machinery accessories, printing machines, forklift trucks, and industrial belts.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/02/05, 05/05/06 and 04/20/07 news, 05050205, 06050505 and 07042005, for BP summaries of the original combined nomenclature (CN) codes for the U.S.-origin products subject to EU sanctions, and the two subsequent additions of more CN codes, respectively.
See ITT's Online Archives or 08/05/05 and 08/10/07 news, 05080520 and 07081020, for BP summaries of Japan's sanctions, including the affected U.S. products and corresponding Japanese tariff numbers.)
Other Countries Have Ceased Sanctions or Never Imposed Them
OTEXA states that although Canada and Mexico also imposed additional duties on certain U.S.-originating products in 2005 as a result of the Byrd Amendment, they ceased their retaliation in 2006.
In addition, Brazil, Chile, India, and Korea were also authorized to retaliate but have yet to levy retaliatory duties on U.S. products.
1 The CDSOA was repealed due to a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against its legality.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/02/04 news, 04090205, for BP summary of the WTO's authorization for various countries/economies to impose retaliatory measures for the Byrd Amendment.)
OTEXA notice, "European Union: Byrd Amendment Repealed but Retaliatory Duties Continue" (updated 02/08/08) available at http://web.ita.doc.gov/otexa/hotiss.nsf/f73552c8fded111d85256e5b00498a51/23b0c00ad35e7159852572c1004e7875?OpenDocument
2006 CBO cost estimate of CDSOA (page 64) available at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/70xx/doc7028/s1932conf.pdf
BP Note
It is not known if the number of U.S. products subject to the 15% retaliatory duties imposed by the EU and Japan will decrease as Byrd Amendment disbursements decrease.