AD: Vietnam Certain Frozen Fish Fillets
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has preliminarily determined that certain imports of frozen fish fillets from Cambodiaproduced by two entities based in Cambodiaare circumventing the antidumping (AD) duty order on certain frozen fish fillets from Vietnam.
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The ITA explains that this inquiry was initiated because petitioners alleged that the processing in and exporting from Cambodia of frozen fillets made from Vietnamese-origin basa and tra fish (i.e., Pangasius Bocourti, Pangasius Hypophthalmus (also known as Pangasius Pangasius) and Pangasius Micronemus) constitutes circumvention of the AD duty order on certain frozen fish fillets from Vietnam.
The ITA adds that it is extending the current deadline of the final determination by sixty days until April 17, 2006 (rather than within 300 days of the October 22, 2004 initiation of this inquiry).
Highlights of ITA's Preliminary Affirmative AD Circumvention Determination
Entries from Lian Heng from 10/22/04 - 07/15/05 to be considered Vietnamese-origin. The ITA states that as a result of the this preliminary affirmative AD circumvention determination, the ITA will consider all entries of frozen fish fillets of the species Pangasius Bocourti, Pangasius Hypophthalmus (also known as Pangasius Pangasius) and Pangasius Micronemus produced by Lian Heng Trading Co., Ltd. and Lian Heng Investment Co., Ltd. (collectively, Lian Heng) with a time of entry on or after October 22, 2004, the date of the initiation of the circumvention inquiry, through July 15, 2005, the last day of the Lian Heng verification, to be produced from Vietnamese-origin fish.
Therefore, for all subject merchandise produced by Lian Heng with a time of entry between October 22, 2004, and July 15, 2005, but not yet liquidated, the ITA preliminarily determines to require suspension of liquidation and a cash deposit at the Vietnam-wide rate of 63.88%.
Entries on or after 07/16/05 can be certified as non-Vietnamese origin. For all entries of frozen fish fillets produced by Lian Heng entered on or after July 16, 2005, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will allow Lian Heng to certify that no Vietnamese-origin fish was used in the production of the frozen fish fillets.
Entries not certified on or after 07/16/05 subject to AD duties. Any entries of frozen fish fillets not accompanied by this certification will be subject to AD duty cash deposits at the Vietnam-wide rate of 63.88%.
The ITA adds that upon request, it may conduct a review of these certified entries during the third administrative review period (August 1, 2005 to July 31, 2006), which will be expanded back to October 22, 2004, the date of initiation of the anticircumvention inquiry, in order to include all of Lian Heng's entries covered by this determination.
(ITA sources note that instructions to CBP are still under review and will be published in the near future. ITA sources would not elaborate on the collection of AD duty cash deposits for affected shipments.)
ITA Preliminarily Rescinds AD Scope Inquiry
The ITA concurrently instituted the above-detailed AD anticircumvention inquiry and a scope inquiry regarding whether certain basa and tra fillets from Cambodia made from Vietnamese-origin live basa and tra fish are excluded from the AD duty order on certain frozen fish fillets from Vietnam.
The ITA had found that because the circumvention and scope requests may necessitate an analysis of the significance of the production process in Cambodia, it was appropriate to initiate them concurrently. However, the ITA is preliminarily rescinding the scope inquiry because Lian Heng, the Cambodian fish producer/exporter upon which the petition relied for information to file its scope request, is also subject to the concurrent circumvention inquiry.
The ITA explains that "basa" and "tra" are the Vietnamese common names of the above-listed species of fish.
(See ITA notice for more information, including the termination of the AD circumvention inquiry for L.S.H. (Cambodia) Pte. Ltd. (L.S.H.) and Sun Wah Fisheries Co. Ltd. (Sun Wah), etc.
See ITT's Online Archives or 11/03/04 news, 04110325, for BP summary of the initiation of the AD duty anticircumvention and scope inquiries.)
ITA Contact - Kit Rudd (202) 482-1385
ITA Notice (FR Pub 02/22/06) available athttp://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-2510.pdf