This week, the US pipe and tube manufacturers that filed the AD/CVD petition against Chinese standard and structural pipe imports in June, filed a "critical circumstances" allegation with the US DOC in connection with the AD/CVD investigations.
According to the petitioners, the antidumping investigation meets the requirements for a finding of "critical circumstances," as there is a history of dumping and material injury from Chinese standard and structural pipe imports; the US importers involved knew or should have known that the imports were being dumped; and imports of these products have been "massive" over a relatively short period of time, with the petitioners claiming an increase of 35.1 percent from the period of March through May 2007 (the three months prior to the filing of the petition).
The petitioners allege that the countervailing duty investigation also meets the requirements for a finding of "critical circumstances" because a number of countervailable subsidies alleged in the petition, including tax exemptions, tax credits, and tax rebate programs, are prohibited by the WTO. Also, the petitioners have the same argument regarding the "massive" imports as in the allegations connected to the antidumping investigation.
The petitioners say that in order to "provide prompt and effective relief from massive dumped and subsidized imports from China" they request that the DOC make its "critical circumstances" determination prior to the DOC's preliminary countervailing duty determination on November 5, 2007.