Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Report on MTB Duty Suspensions Released

Under the new process, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) was tasked with coordinating interagency input for the Administration and with providing a report to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees, as well as the USITC, on each of two determinations for each product under review:

1. Does domestic production of the product subject to petition for duty suspension or reduction exist?

2. Does a domestic producer of the product object to the petition for the duty suspension or reduction?

The definitions used for “domestic production” and “domestic producer” are set out in the MTB legislation.

“Domestic production” is the production of a product that is identical to, or like or directly competitive with, a product to which a petition for a duty suspension or reduction would apply, for which a domestic producer has demonstrated production, or imminent production, in the United States.

“Domestic producer” is a person that demonstrates production, or imminent production, in the United States of a product that is identical to, or like or directly competitive with, a product to which a petition for a duty suspension or reduction would apply.

Commerce’s Administration Report also includes input from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other relevant Federal agencies, including any technical changes to the product’s article description (as the product is described in the tariff schedule) for each petition that are necessary for purposes of administration when products are presented for importation. Commerce is expected to deliver the report containing its findings for each petition to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees, as well as the USITC, in mid-April 2017.

Commerce’s task as set out in the legislation is consistent with the Department’s previous role in the MTB process, wherein for more than 20 years Commerce has been responsible for investigating whether there is domestic production of products proposed for an MTB, in order to prevent domestic manufacturers from being inadvertently injured by the tariff cuts.

Read the report at http://trade.gov/mas/ian/build/groups/public/@tg_ian/documents/webcontent/tg_ian_005536.pdf.

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