Commerce Finalizes Tougher Certifications for Factual Info in AD/CVD Cases
The Commerce Department finalized its regulation on certification of factual information in antidumping and countervailing duty cases, in a final rule set for publication July 17. The rule makes several changes from the February 2011 interim final rule that first imposed the strengthened certifications (see 11021027), including creating a separate certification for foreign governments. The new certification regulations will apply to AD/CV duty investigations based on petitions filed on or after Aug. 16, as well as other types of AD/CV duty proceedings initiated on or after that date.
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.
Records can be kept by counsel. In one change from the interim final rule currently in place, Commerce will allow lawyers to retain their company and government clients’ original certifications in their records. The interim final rule had required companies and governments to keep records of their own certifications. But Commerce said that regardless of who keeps the original certification in their records, the certifier is ultimately responsible for providing it to the agency when requested.
Exception for procedural submissions. Commerce said it’s making a “narrow exception” to the certification for procedural submissions to reduce the burden of parties to AD/CVD cases. Certification would not be required for procedural submissions like requests for extension of time limits, hearing requests, requests for review, letters of appearance, corrections to a previous submission that has been, requests to extend preliminary and final determinations/results, requests for verification, requests for alignment with a parallel proceeding, and many APO filings, Commerce said.
Certifications for “non-procedural” submissions, like questionnaire responses, deficiency comments, surrogate value information, and other factual information placed on the record will not fall under the procedural exception, and will still require certifications, Commerce said.
New government certification format. The final rule creates a new certification format for foreign governments. The 2011 interim final rule had required the same certification for both governments and companies. Commerce made the change to remove language threatening U.S. criminal penalties in the government certification, given concerns raised by commenters that the reference to U.S. law would constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity.
Paper version still required. Despite comments that asked Commerce to allow electronic recordkeeping of original certificates, the agency said it isn’t ready to make the change. Original certificates will still have to be kept in paper form, because the agency’s IAACCESS submission system doesn’t yet support electronic signatures beyond the username and password of the document’s submitter. So submissions that require signatures from both a company and its representative, for example, would not be supported.
Commerce did say it would work toward implementation of electronic signatures in IAACCESS, which would allow for electronic recordkeeping of certifications. The agency said it will announce implementation of electronic signatures and recordkeeping on the IAACESS website when it’s ready.
FAQ to be posted. Finally, Commerce said it would put together a frequently asked questions document about factual information certifications, and posted it on its website (here). Comments had asked for clarification about application of certification requirements in various contexts, Commerce said.
(Federal Register 07/17/13)