FACT SHEET
Preliminary Affirmative Determination of
Critical Circumstances:
Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada
On Friday, August 10, 2001, the Department of
Commerce will announce its preliminary affirmative determination
of critical circumstances on certain softwood lumber products
from Canada.
BACKGROUND
On April 2, 2001, the Department of Commerce ("the
Department") received a petition filed in proper form by
the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports Executive Committee ("petitioner")
alleging that, following the March 31, 2001 expiration of the
U.S.-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement ("SLA"), there
was a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that critical circumstances
will exist with regard to imports of lumber from Canada.
The petitioner requested that the Department monitor
import data regarding the subject merchandise to determine whether
imports surged following the filing of the petition. On April
3, 2001, Secretary Evans announced that the Department would
institute a Lumber Import Monitoring Program to track imports
of softwood lumber for signs of a possible surge.
The Department will make a final critical circumstances
determination at the time of our final countervailing duty determination,
which is currently scheduled for October 23, 2001.
Critical Circumstances:
The critical circumstances provisions of the countervailing
duty laws ensure that the statutory remedies against unfairly
traded imports are not undermined by massive imports of subsidized
merchandise that are triggered by the investigation and come
in before the remedial duties take effect. If critical circumstances
are found, countervailing duties may be assessed retroactively
on goods imported up to 90 days prior to the publication of
the Department's preliminary countervailing duty determination
(approximately mid-May).
In order to make an affirmative finding of critical
circumstances, the Department must find that (1) there are alleged
countervailable subsidy programs that are inconsistent with
the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailable Measures
("the WTO Agreement"), and (2) there have been massive
imports of lumber from Canada over a relatively short period
(more than 15 percent).
We preliminarily find that, based on petitioner's
allegations and the information available to us at this time,
there are subsidy programs investigated by the Department that
are inconsistent with the WTO Agreement. We also found that
imports surged more than 15 percent when comparing seasonally
adjusted 2nd quarter 2001 import statistics with 1st quarter
2001 import statistics.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The products covered by this investigation are softwood lumber,
flooring and siding (softwood lumber products). Softwood lumber
products include all products classified under item numbers
4407.10.00, 4409.10.10, 4409.10.90, and 4409.10.20, respectively,
of the HTSUS. These softwood lumber products include:
(1) coniferous wood, sawn or chipped lengthwise,
sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed,
of a thickness exceeding six millimeters;
(2) coniferous wood siding (including strips and
friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped
(tongued, grooved, rabbeted, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded,
rounded or the like) along any of its edges or faces, whether
or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed;
(3) other coniferous wood (including strips and
friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled) continuously shaped
(tongued, grooved, rabbeted, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded,
rounded or the like) along any of its edges or faces (other
than wood mouldings and wood dowel rods) whether or not planed,
sanded or finger-jointed; and
(4) coniferous wood flooring (including strips
and friezes for parquet flooring,
not assembled) continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rabbeted,
chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, molded, rounded or the like) along
any of its edges or faces, whether or not planed, sanded or
finger-jointed.
Although the HTSUS subheadings are provided for
convenience and U.S. Customs purposes, the written description
of the merchandise under investigation is dispositive.
Excluded from this investigation are imports of
softwood lumber from the Canadian Provinces of New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland (the Maritime
Provinces). This exemption does not apply to softwood lumber
products produced in the Maritime Provinces from Crown timber
harvested in any other Province.
CASE CALENDARS
| ACTION |
AD |
CVD |
| Petition Filed |
April 2, 2001 |
April 2, 2001 |
| DOC Initiation |
April 23, 2001 |
April 23, 2001 |
| ITC Preliminary Determination |
May 17, 2001 |
May 17, 2001 |
| DOC Preliminary Determination |
Sept. 24, 2001 |
August 9, 2001 |
| DOC Final Determination * |
Dec. 8, 2001 |
Oct. 23, 2001 |
| ITC Final Determination |
Jan. 22, 2002 |
Dec. 7, 2001 |
| DOC Issues Orders (If warranted) |
Jan. 29, 2002 |
Dec. 14, 2001 |
* U.S. law allows these dates
to be extended
If DOC makes affirmative final determinations,
the ITC must make final injury determinations within 45 days.
If those determinations are affirmative, DOC will issue antidumping
and countervailing duty orders.
WEB SITE ADDRESS:
By Monday, August 13, the Department will post
its preliminary determination on the Import Administration web
site at the following address: www.ia.ita.doc.gov
