(a) Introduction. The Act contains many technical terms applicable to antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings. In the case of terms that are not defined in this section or other sections of this part, readers should refer to the relevant provisions of the Act. This section:
(1) Defines terms that appear in the Act but are not defined in the Act;
(2) Defines terms that appear in this Part but do not appear in the Act; and
(3) Elaborates on the meaning of certain terms that are defined in the Act.
(b) Definitions. (1) Act. “Act” means the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
(2) Administrative review. “Administrative review” means a review under section 751(a)(1) of the Act.
(3) Affiliated persons; affiliated parties. “Affiliated persons” and “affiliated parties” have the same meaning as in section 771(33) of the Act. In determining whether control over another person exists, within the meaning of section 771(33) of the Act, the Secretary will consider the following factors, among others: Corporate or family groupings; franchise or joint venture agreements; debt financing; and close supplier relationships. The Secretary will not find that control exists on the basis of these factors unless the relationship has the potential to impact decisions concerning the production, pricing, or cost of the subject merchandise or foreign like product. The Secretary will consider the temporal aspect of a relationship in determining whether control exists; normally, temporary circumstances will not suffice as evidence of control.
(4) Aggregate basis. “Aggregate basis” means the calculation of a country-wide subsidy rate based principally on information provided by the foreign government.
(5) Anniversary month. “Anniversary month” means the calendar month in which the anniversary of the date of publication of an order or suspension of investigation occurs.
(6) APO. “APO” means an administrative protective order described in section 777(c)(1) of the Act.
(7) Applicant. “Applicant” means a representative of an interested party that has applied for access to business proprietary information under an administrative protective order.
(8) Article 4/Article 7 review. “Article 4/Article 7 review” means a review under section 751(g)(2) of the Act.
(9) Article 8 violation review. “Article 8 violation review” means a review under section 751(g)(1) of the Act.
(10) Authorized applicant. “Authorized applicant” means an applicant that the Secretary has authorized to receive business proprietary information under an APO under section 777(c)(1) of the Act.
(11) Changed circumstances review. “Changed circumstances review” means a review under section 751(b) of the Act.
(12) Consumed in the production process. Inputs “consumed in the production process” are inputs physically incorporated, energy, fuels and oil used in the production process and catalysts which are consumed in the course of their use to obtain the product.
(13) Cumulative indirect tax. “Cumulative indirect tax” means a multi-staged tax levied where there is no mechanism for subsequent crediting of the tax if the goods or services subject to tax at one stage of production are used in a succeeding stage of production.
(14) Days. Deadlines and time limits for submissions with the Secretary that reference a number of “days,” will generally mean calendar days. If certain deadlines or time limits are intended to apply to business days instead, which are Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, then the applicable regulatory provisions implementing such deadlines or time limits will explicitly indicate the use of the business day alternative.
(15) Department. “Department” means the United States Department of Commerce.
(16) Direct tax. “Direct tax” means a tax on wages, profits, interests, rents, royalties, and all other forms of income, a tax on the ownership of real property, or a social welfare charge.
(17) Domestic interested party. “Domestic interested party” means an interested party described in subparagraph (C), (D), (E), (F), or (G) of section 771(9) of the Act.
(18) Expedited antidumping review. “Expedited antidumping review” means a review under section 736(c) of the Act.
(19) Expedited sunset review. “Expedited sunset review” means an expedited sunset review conducted by the Department where respondent interested parties provide inadequate responses to a notice of initiation under section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and § 351.218(e)(1)(ii).
(20) Export insurance. “Export insurance” includes, but is not limited to, insurance against increases in the cost of exported products, nonpayment by the customer, inflation, or exchange rate risks.
(21) Factual information. “Factual information” means:
(i) Evidence, including statements of fact, documents, and data submitted either in response to initial and supplemental questionnaires, or, to rebut, clarify, or correct such evidence submitted by any other interested party;
(ii) Evidence, including statements of fact, documents, and data submitted either in support of allegations, or, to rebut, clarify, or correct such evidence submitted by any other interested party;
(iii) Publicly available information submitted to value factors under § 351.408(c) or to measure the adequacy of remuneration under § 351.511(a)(2), or, to rebut, clarify, or correct such publicly available information submitted by any other interested party;
(iv) Evidence, including statements of fact, documents and data placed on the record by the Department, or, evidence submitted by any interested party to rebut, clarify or correct such evidence placed on the record by the Department; and
(v) Evidence, including statements of fact, documents, and data, other than factual information described in paragraphs (b)(21)(i)-(iv) of this section, in addition to evidence submitted by any other interested party to rebut, clarify, or correct such evidence.
(22) Fair value. “Fair value” is a term used during an antidumping investigation, and is an estimate of normal value.
(23) Firm. For purposes of subpart E (Identification and Measurement of Countervailable Subsidies), “firm” is used to refer to the recipient of an alleged countervailable subsidy, including any individual, company, partnership, corporation, joint venture, association, organization, or other entity.
(24) Full sunset review. “Full sunset review” means a full sunset review conducted by the Department under section 751(c)(5) of the Act where both domestic interested parties and respondent interested parties provide adequate response to a notice of initiation under section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and §§ 351.218(e)(1)(i) and 351.218(e)(1)(ii).
(25) Government-provided. “Government-provided” is a shorthand expression for an act or practice that is alleged to be a countervailable subsidy. The use of the term “government-provided” is not intended to preclude the possibility that a government may provide a countervailable subsidy indirectly in a manner described in section 771(5)(B)(iii) of the Act (indirect financial contribution).
(26) Import charge. “Import charge” means a tariff, duty, or other fiscal charge that is levied on imports, other than an indirect tax.
(27) Importer. “Importer” means the person by whom, or for whose account, subject merchandise is imported.
(28) Indirect tax. “Indirect tax” means a sales, excise, turnover, value added, franchise, stamp, transfer, inventory, or equipment tax, a border tax, or any other tax other than a direct tax or an import charge.
(29) Interested party. For the purpose of submitting an application for APO access (Form ITA-367), “Interested Party” means:
(i) A foreign manufacturer, producer, or exporter of subject merchandise,
(ii) The United States importer of subject merchandise,
(iii) A trade or business association a majority of the members of which are producers, exporters, or importers of subject merchandise,
(iv) The government of a country in which subject merchandise is produced or manufactured or from which such merchandise is exported,
(v) A manufacturer, producer, or wholesaler in the United States of a domestic like product,
(vi) A certified union or recognized union or group of workers which is representative of an industry engaged in the manufacture, production, or wholesale in the United States of a domestic like product,
(vii) A trade or business association a majority of whose members manufacture, produce, or wholesale a domestic like product in the United States,
(viii) An association, a majority of whose members is composed of interested parties described in subparagraph (C), (D), or (E) of section 771(9) of the Act with respect to a domestic like product, and
(ix) A coalition or trade association as described in section 771(9)(G) of the Act.
(30) Investigation. Under the Act and this part, there is a distinction between an antidumping or countervailing duty investigation and a proceeding. An “investigation” is that segment of a proceeding that begins on the date of publication of notice of initiation of investigation and ends on the date of publication of the earliest of:
(i) Notice of termination of investigation,
(ii) Notice of rescission of investigation,
(iii) Notice of a negative determination that has the effect of terminating the proceeding, or
(iv) An order.
(31) Loan. “Loan” means a loan or other form of debt financing, such as a bond.
(32) Long-term loan. “Long-term loan” means a loan, the terms of repayment for which are greater than one year.
(33) New shipper review. “New shipper review” means a review under section 751(a)(2) of the Act.
(34) Order. An “order” is an order issued by the Secretary under section 303, section 706, or section 736 of the Act or a finding under the Antidumping Act, 1921.
(35) Ordinary course of trade. “Ordinary course of trade” has the same meaning as in section 771(15) of the Act. The Secretary may consider sales or transactions to be outside the ordinary course of trade if the Secretary determines, based on an evaluation of all of the circumstances particular to the sales in question, that such sales or transactions have characteristics that are extraordinary for the market in question. Examples of sales that the Secretary might consider as being outside the ordinary course of trade are sales or transactions involving off-quality merchandise or merchandise produced according to unusual product specifications, merchandise sold at aberrational prices or with abnormally high profits, merchandise sold pursuant to unusual terms of sale, or merchandise sold to an affiliated party at a non-arm's length price.
(36) Party to the proceeding. “Party to the proceeding” means any interested party that actively participates, through written submissions of factual information or written argument, in a segment of a proceeding. Participation in a prior segment of a proceeding will not confer on any interested party “party to the proceeding” status in a subsequent segment.
(37) Person. “Person” includes any interested party as well as any other individual, enterprise, or entity, as appropriate.
(38) Price adjustment. “Price adjustment” means a change in the price charged for subject merchandise or the foreign like product, such as a discount, rebate, or other adjustment, including, under certain circumstances, a change that is made after the time of sale (see § 351.401(c)), that is reflected in the purchaser's net outlay.
(39) Prior-stage indirect tax. “Prior-stage indirect tax” means an indirect tax levied on goods or services used directly or indirectly in making a product.
(40) Proceeding. A “proceeding” begins on the date of the filing of a petition under section 702(b) or section 732(b) of the Act or the publication of a notice of initiation in a self-initiated investigation under section 702(a) or section 732(a) of the Act, and ends on the date of publication of the earliest notice of:
(i) Dismissal of petition,
(ii) Rescission of initiation,
(iii) Termination of investigation,
(iv) A negative determination that has the effect of terminating the proceeding,
(v) Revocation of an order, or
(vi) Termination of a suspended investigation.
(41) Rates. “Rates” means the individual weighted-average dumping margins, the individual countervailable subsidy rates, the country-wide subsidy rate, or the all-others rate, as applicable.
(42) Respondent interested party. “Respondent interested party” means an interested party described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 771(9) of the Act.
(43) Sale. A “sale” includes a contract to sell and a lease that is equivalent to a sale.
(44) Secretary. “Secretary” means the Secretary of Commerce or a designee. The Secretary has delegated to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance the authority to make determinations under title VII of the Act and this part.
(45) Section 753 review. “Section 753 review” means a review under section 753 of the Act.
(46) Section 762 review. “Section 762 review” means a review under section 762 of the Act.
(47) Segment of proceeding—(i) In general. An antidumping or countervailing duty proceeding consists of one or more segments. “Segment of a proceeding” or “segment of the proceeding” refers to a portion of the proceeding that is reviewable under section 516A of the Act.
(ii) Examples. An antidumping or countervailing duty investigation or a review of an order or suspended investigation, or a scope inquiry under § 351.225, each would constitute a segment of a proceeding.
(48) Short-term loan. “Short-term loan” means a loan, the terms of repayment for which are one year or less.
(49) Sunset review. “Sunset review” means a review under section 751(c) of the Act.
(50) Suspension of liquidation. “Suspension of liquidation” refers to a suspension of liquidation ordered by the Secretary under the authority of title VII of the Act, the provisions of this Part, or section 516a(g)(5)(C) of the Act, or by a court of the United States in a lawsuit involving action taken, or not taken, by the Secretary under title VII of the Act or the provisions of this part.
(51) Third country. For purposes of subpart D, “third country” means a country other than the exporting country and the United States. Under section 773(a) of the Act and subpart D, in certain circumstances the Secretary may determine normal value on the basis of sales to a third country.
(52) URAA. “URAA” means the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
(53) U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. Customs and Border Protection means United States Customs and Border Protection of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
[73 FR 3640, Jan. 22, 2008, as amended at 78 FR 21254, Apr. 10, 2013; 81 FR 15645, Mar. 24, 2016; 89 FR 20832, Mar. 25, 2024]
(a) Official record—(1) In general. The Secretary will maintain an official record of each antidumping and countervailing duty proceeding. The Secretary will include in the official record all factual information, written argument, or other material developed by, presented to, or obtained by the Secretary during the course of a proceeding that pertains to the proceeding. The official record will include government memoranda pertaining to the proceeding, memoranda of ex parte meetings, determinations, documents published in the Federal Register, and transcripts of hearings. The official record will contain material that is public, business proprietary, privileged, and classified. For purposes of section 516A(b)(2) of the Act, the record is the official record of each segment of the proceeding. For a scope, circumvention, or covered merchandise inquiry pertaining to companion antidumping and countervailing duty orders conducted on the record of the antidumping duty segment of the proceeding, pursuant to §§ 351.225, 352.226, and 351.227, the record of the antidumping duty segment of the proceeding normally will be the official record.
(2) Material rejected. (i) The Secretary, in making any determination under this part, will not use factual information, written argument, or other material that the Secretary rejects.
(ii) The official record will include a copy of a rejected document, solely for purposes of establishing and documenting the basis for rejecting the document, if the document was rejected because:
(A) The document, although otherwise timely, contains untimely filed new factual information (see § 351.301(c));
(B) The submitter made a nonconforming request for business proprietary treatment of factual information (see § 351.304);
(C) The Secretary denied a request for business proprietary treatment of factual information (see § 351.304);
(D) The submitter is unwilling to permit the disclosure of business proprietary information under APO (see § 351.304).
(iii) In no case will the official record include any document that the Secretary rejects as untimely filed, or any unsolicited questionnaire response unless the response is a voluntary response accepted under § 351.204(d) (see § 351.302(d)).
(3) Filing requirements for documents not originating with the Department—(i) In general. Documents not originating with the Department must be placed on the official record for the documents to be considered by the Secretary in the Secretary's analysis and determinations. With the exception of the sources enumerated in paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section, mere citations to hyperlinks, website Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), or other sources of information do not constitute placement of the information from those sources on the official record. Unless the exceptions of paragraph (a)(3)(ii) apply, the filing and timing requirements of § 351.301 apply to such information.
(ii) Exceptions for publicly available documents not originating with the Department. The following publicly available sources of information not originating with the Department will be considered by the Secretary in the Secretary's analysis and determinations when fully cited by submitting parties without the requirement that the information sources be placed on the official record: United States statutes and regulations; published United States legislative history; United States court decisions and orders; Federal Register notices and determinations; Commission reports adopted by reference in the Federal Register; dictionary definitions; international agreements identified in § 351.101(a) and dispute settlement determinations arising out of those international agreements. The Secretary may decline to consider sources of information in its analysis or determination that are not cited in full.
(4) Filing requirements for proprietary, privileged, and classified information. When lawfully permitted, all proprietary, privileged, and classified information, including documents originating with the Department containing such information from another segment of the same proceeding, must be placed on the official record in their entirety for the Secretary to consider that information in its analysis and determinations, and the filing and timing restrictions of § 351.301 apply to such information.
(5) Notices and determinations originating with the Department and published in the Federal Register. All notices and determinations originating with the Department and published in the Federal Register may be cited by parties in submissions for consideration by the Secretary without the requirement that the notice or determination be placed on the official record, as long as those notices and determinations are cited in full. The Secretary may decline to consider notices or determinations that are not cited in full. Section 351.301 does not apply to Federal Register notices and determinations.
(6) Public versions of certain unpublished documents originating with the Department which may always be referenced by citation without placing the information on the record. Public versions of the following documents originating with the Department derived from other segments and proceedings may be cited in submissions for consideration by the Secretary without being placed on the record, as long as those documents are cited in full. In providing a citation to a document originating with the Department, the submitter must explain in the text of the submitted document the factual and legal reasons for which the submitter is citing the document and an Enforcement and Compliance Antidumping Duty and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS) barcode number associated with the document must be included as part of the citation. If an ACCESS barcode number is not included in the citation or is incorrectly transcribed, or the document is not cited in full, the Secretary may decline to consider the cited decision document in its analysis or determination. The timing and filing restrictions of § 351.301 shall not apply to these documents:
(i) Preliminary and final issues and decision memoranda issued in investigations pursuant to §§ 351.205 and 351.210;
(ii) Preliminary and final issues and decision memoranda issued in administrative reviews, pursuant to § 351.213;
(iii) Preliminary and final issues and decision memoranda issued in new shipper reviews, pursuant to § 351.214;
(iv) Preliminary and final issues and decision memoranda in changed circumstances reviews, pursuant to § 351.216;
(v) Preliminary and final issues and decision memoranda in sunset reviews, pursuant to § 351.218;
(vi) Preliminary and final decision memoranda issued in scope inquiries pursuant to § 351.225, circumvention inquiries pursuant to § 351.226, and covered merchandise inquiries pursuant to § 351.227;
(vii) Draft and final redeterminations on remand;
(viii) Draft and final redeterminations issued pursuant to section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act;
(ix) Initiation decision documents, such as initiation checklists;
(x) New subsidy allegation memoranda;
(xi) Scope memoranda issued in an investigation; and
(xii) Post-preliminary determination or results memoranda addressing issues for the first time in the period of time between preliminary and final determinations or results.
(7) Special rules for public versions of documents originating with the Department with no associated ACCESS barcode numbers. Public versions of documents originating with Commerce in other segments or proceedings under paragraph (a)(6) of this section but not associated with an ACCESS barcode number, including documents issued before the implementation of ACCESS, must be submitted on the record in their entirety to be considered by the Secretary in its analysis and determinations and are subject to the timing and filing restrictions of § 351.301.
(b) Public record. The Secretary will maintain a public record of each proceeding. The record will consist of all material contained in the official record (see paragraph (a) of this section) that the Secretary decides is public information under § 351.105(b), government memoranda or portions of memoranda that the Secretary decides may be disclosed to the general public, and public versions of all determinations, notices, and transcripts. The public record will be available to the public for inspection and copying in the Central Records Unit (see § 351.103). The Secretary will charge an appropriate fee for providing copies of documents.
(c) Protection of records. Unless ordered by the Secretary or required by law, no record or portion of a record will be removed from the Department.
[62 FR 27379, May 19, 1997, as amended at 76 FR 39274, July 6, 2011; 88 FR 67077, Sept. 29, 2023; 89 FR 20832, Mar. 25, 2024]
(a) Introduction. There are four categories of information in an antidumping or countervailing duty proceeding: public, business proprietary, privileged, and classified. In general, public information is information that may be made available to the public, whereas business proprietary information may be disclosed (if at all) only to authorized applicants under an APO. Privileged and classified information may not be disclosed at all, even under an APO. This section describes the four categories of information.
(b) Public information. The Secretary normally will consider the following to be public information:
(1) Factual information of a type that has been published or otherwise made available to the public by the person submitting it;
(2) Factual information that is not designated as business proprietary by the person submitting it;
(3) Factual information that, although designated as business proprietary by the person submitting it, is in a form that cannot be associated with or otherwise used to identify activities of a particular person or that the Secretary determines is not properly designated as business proprietary;
(4) Publicly available laws, regulations, decrees, orders, and other official documents of a country, including English translations; and
(5) Written argument relating to the proceeding that is not designated as business proprietary.
(c) Business proprietary information. The Secretary normally will consider the following factual information to be business proprietary information, if so designated by the submitter:
(1) Business or trade secrets concerning the nature of a product or production process;
(2) Production costs (but not the identity of the production components unless a particular component is a trade secret);
(3) Distribution costs (but not channels of distribution);
(4) Terms of sale (but not terms of sale offered to the public);
(5) Prices of individual sales, likely sales, or other offers (but not components of prices, such as transportation, if based on published schedules, dates of sale, product descriptions (other than business or trade secrets described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section), or order numbers);
(6) Names of particular customers, distributors, or suppliers (but not destination of sale or designation of type of customer, distributor, or supplier, unless the destination or designation would reveal the name);
(7) In an antidumping proceeding, the exact amount of the dumping margin on individual sales;
(8) In a countervailing duty proceeding, the exact amount of the benefit applied for or received by a person from each of the programs under investigation or review (but not descriptions of the operations of the programs, or the amount if included in official public statements or documents or publications, or the ad valorem countervailable subsidy rate calculated for each person under a program);
(9) The names of particular persons from whom business proprietary information was obtained;
(10) The position of a domestic producer or workers regarding a petition; and
(11) Any other specific business information the release of which to the public would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the submitter.
(d) Privileged information. The Secretary will consider information privileged if, based on principles of law concerning privileged information, the Secretary decides that the information should not be released to the public or to parties to the proceeding. Privileged information is exempt from disclosure to the public or to representatives of interested parties.
(e) Classified information. Classified information is information that is classified under Executive Order No. 12356 of April 2, 1982 (47 FR 14874 and 15557, 3 CFR 1982 Comp. p. 166) or successor executive order, if applicable. Classified information is exempt from disclosure to the public or to representatives of interested parties.