US Department of Commerce announced its preliminary determination regarding the "critical circumstances" allegations in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on imports of certain oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from India and Turkey.
The Department of Commerce has decided that critical circumstances exist for imports of OCTG products from India and Turkey.
The Department will make final determinations concerning critical circumstances when it makes final subsidy determinations in these investigations, currently scheduled for April 29, 2014.
"Critical circumstances" is a provision in both the antidumping and countervailing duty law that allows for the limited retroactive imposition of duties if certain conditions are met. Affirmative decisions of critical circumstances result in the retroactive imposition of duties on unliquidated entries of imported merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date which is 90 days prior to the date the duties would normally be levied. This provision serves two purposes: (1) to deter importers from attempting to circumvent the antidumping and countervailing duty laws by making massive shipments immediately after the filing of a petition (and before any relief can be imposed) (2) provide relief from the effects of such massive shipments if they do occur.