The US Department of Commerce has revised two steps in the process of requesting exclusions from the Section 232 tariffs and quotas on steel and aluminum imports into the United States. The changes, which went into effect on Tuesday September 11, make room for potential rebuttals and “surrebuttals” to Section 232 product exclusion requests.
A statement posted in the Federal Register and signed by DOC Secretary Wilbur Ross said, “The department understands the importance of having a transparent, fair and efficient exclusion and objection process.”
Any comments on the new “interim final rule” for the Section 232 exclusion process must be received by November 13, the DOC noted. The rule changes come after the department received feedback questioning the exclusions process, which the DOC initiated on March 19, 2018.
“The [exclusions] process has also been significantly streamlined – including automatically granting requests with no objections that do not present any national security concerns and applying refunds in select cases – to better address the needs of stakeholders,” a DOC spokesperson said.