Congress Passes Byrd Repeal

Feb. 8, 2006

On February 1, 2006, the House of Representatives passed the Senate-amended conference version of S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.  This bill, as passed by Congress, contains a provision that would repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), also known as the “Byrd Amendment.”   The Byrd Amendment requires that revenues from antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) 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 petitioners for the original AD/CVD order or interested parties in support of the petition for specified qualifying expenditures (i.e., manufacturing facilities, research and development, personnel training).  On August 31, 2004, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized numerous countries including the European Union, Canada, Japan and Mexico to retaliate against the United States for its failure to bring the CDSOA into conformity with WTO rules by December 27, 2003.

Specifically, Section 7601 of S. 1932 proposes the repeal of Section 754 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. § 1675c), and the item relating to Section 764 in the table of contents for Title VII of that Act.  Section 7601 further provides that all duties on entries of goods made and filed before October 1, 2007, that would, but for the repeal, be distributed under section 754 of the Tariff Act of 1930, shall be distributed as if Section 754 had not been repealed.