Industry News

EC to Extend Byrd Sanctions to 32 Additional Products
Apr. 20, 2007

The European Commission (EC) has issued Regulation No. 409/2007 in order to add 32 products to the list of U.S.-originating products that are subject to 15% additional customs duties in response to the United States’ disbursements under the repealed Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), also known as the Byrd Amendment, for fiscal year 2006.  Application of these additional duties is scheduled to take effect May 1, 2007.  The list of 32 additional products includes, among others, high-end apparel items.

The Byrd Amendment required that the revenues from antidumping and countervailing duties assessed on or after October 1, 2000 be distributed on an annual basis to the affected domestic producers (i.e., currently operating producers) that were either petitioners for the AD/CV duty order in question or interested parties in support of the petition for specified qualifying expenditures (e.g., manufacturing facilities, research and development, personnel training).   In February 2006, the President signed into law S. 1932 which, among other things, repealed the Byrd Amendment.   S. 1932, however, provided that all duties on entries made and filed prior to October 1, 2007, that would, but for this repeal, be distributed under section 754 of the Tariff Act of 1930, shall be distributed as if section 754 had not been repealed.  

EC sources have previously indicated that it is the EC’s policy to wait until all disbursements associated with the Byrd Amendment have ceased before considering lifting the sanctions.   Accordingly, the current sanctions could remain in place for a number of years after October 1, 2007.   A list of the current combined nomenclature (CN) codes that are already subject to 15% additional duties, as well as the newly added CN codes which will be subject to additional duties beginning May 1, 2007 may be obtained here.