A Federal Register Notice was published today announcing that the US Department of Commerce has made a Preliminary Determination that Countervailing Duty (CVD) will apply to Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada. The Notice includes the scope of products included in the CVD investigation.
The Department preliminarily determined that the following estimated countervailing subsidy rates exist:
Canfor Corporation                                        20.26%
J.D. Irving, Limited                                           3.02%
Resolute FP Canada Inc.                              12.82%
Tolko Marketing and Sales Ltd.                  19.50%
West Fraser Mills Ltd. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 24.12%
All Others                                                           19.88%
The Department will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of entries of subject merchandise as described in the scope of the investigation entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after today (the date of publication of the notice in the Federal Register) and will instruct CBP to require cash deposits equal to the rates indicated above.
The Department preliminarily found that “critical circumstances†exist with respect to J.D. Irving, Limited, and companies subject to the “all others rateâ€.  Consequently, Commerce will instruct CBP to impose provisional measures retroactively on entries of softwood lumber from Canada, effective 90 days prior April 28, 2017, for the affected exporters.
The International Trade Administration has issued a fact sheet outlining the preliminary determination of countervailing duties.  More details and the tariff numbers included in the scope can be found in this fact sheet.
There is also an Anti-Dumping Duty (ADD) investigation on these products. The Preliminary Determination deadline on ADD was postponed from May 4th.  The new deadline is no later than June 23, 2017. Today’s Federal Register Notice also aligns the Final Determinations on the ADD and CVD cases, which are scheduled to be issued no later than September, 6, 2017, unless postponed.
Requirements for Shipments into the US
When you ship products covered by the CVD case into the US, the following information needs to be shown on your customs invoices in order for Willson International to correctly file your entries.
- Good description of the product
- Ten digit US Tariff #
- Name of the mill
- CVD Case # C-122-858
CBP may also request a Non-Reimbursement Statement for ADD and CVD. If you are not being reimbursed for CVD, (by the mill, your supplier, etc.), please complete and provide Willson International with a Non-Reimbursement Statement (NRS). Failure to provide a Non-Reimbursement Statement could result in doubling the ADD/CVD amount, assuming that you were reimbursed.
Please contact the US Transition Team via email (transitionus@willsonintl.044d949.netsolhost.com) or via phone (716.260.1580), ext. 4, to advise us of the mill(s) for your softwood lumber products so we can update your client record accordingly to use the correct case # and rate. We can also provide a NRS for completion and return to us.