The United States Department of Commerce needs more time to issue a final decision on the anti-dumping duty order on certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires.
Here is the timeline of events involving the anti-dumping duties imposed on OTR tires.
August 2007: The U.S. Department of Commerce initiated anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations on new pneumatic off-the-road tires from China.
February 2008: A preliminary decision by the U.S. Commerce Department imposed anti-dumping duties on new pneumatic OTR tire imports from China.
October 2010: The Department of Commerce initiated an administrative review of the anti-dumping duty order over the period starting Sept. 1, 2009, and running through Aug. 31, 2010 (75 Federal Register 66349).
October 7, 2011: The Department published its preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping order, which considered rescinding it in part (76 FR 62356).
February 4, 2012: The final decision was due.
According to Section 751(a)(3)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930, the final results in an administrative review are due within 120 days after the date on which the preliminary results are published. However, according to the International Trade Administration, the review can be extended "if it is not practicable to complete the review within this time period."
The Department says it needs more time, and has extended the time period by 14 days, to Feb. 21, 2012 (it could have extended the time period by a maximum of 180 days).
"We determine that it is not practicable to complete the final results of this review within the current deadline because the Department continues to require additional time to analyze issues raised in recent surrogate value submissions, case briefs and rebuttals."
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Dec. 19, 2011, that the U.S. Commerce Department's imposition of countervailing duties on China-made OTR and agricultural tires in 2008 was illegal under U.S. law (click here for more details).
