Senate "ENFORCE" Act Would Seek to Prevent AD/CV Duty Evasion
On August 5, 2010, Senators Wyden (D) and two cosponsors1 introduced S. 3725, the Enforcing Orders and Reducing Circumvention and Evasion Act of 2010 or "ENFORCE Act," a bill to prevent importation of merchandise that evades U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty orders, etc.
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Bill Has Bipartisan Support, May be Part of “Make It in America” Agenda
According to Congressional sources, the bill’s provisions have support from both Democrats and Republicans. A House version may also be included in the House’s “Make it in America” agenda.2
May Remain Separate and/or Become Part of Customs Reauthorization Bill
Sources add that the bill may be brought to the Senate floor as separate legislation and/or as part of the Senate’s Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act (S. 1631), which was introduced in the Senate in 2009.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/22/09 and 05/14/10 news, 09092215 and 10051435, for most recent BP summary of S. 1631, with links to other summaries, and for a May 2010 Senate hearing which discussed Senator leaders’ hope to consider S. 1631 in markup before the August 2010 recess.)
Highlights of Bill
According to a press release from Senator Wyden’s office, the ENFORCE Act would do the following:
Have Commerce investigate, not CBP -- empower the Department of Commerce to investigate the evasion of an AD/CVD order, which the agency imposes in the first place, instead of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which many believe is too slow in identifying and responding to AD/CVD evasion. According to the press release, the ENFORCE Act would not diminish CBP’s role, but bolster greater cooperation and information sharing between the two agencies.
Set a 60 day response deadline - give the federal government 60 days, after an allegation of evasion is put forward, to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to believe an importer is evading an AD/CVD order.
Cash deposit if affirmative preliminary determination - require that AD/CV duties be collected in cash until the investigation is concluded, if the preliminary determination is affirmative.
Share evasion info with other agencies - authorize information sharing among the appropriate agencies when the government determines that an importer may be attempting to evade an AD/CVD order as this may be a sign of evasion of other types of regulations.
1Senators Snowe (R), and Schumer (D).
2In July 2010, House Majority Leader Hoyer (D) announced that the House of Representatives would be pursuing a “Make it in America” agenda in coming weeks, including legislation on China’s currency, the Miscellaneous Trade Bill, and 18 other bills. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/22/10 and 07/27/10 news, 10072223 and 10072724 for BP summaries.)
Senator Wyden press release, dated 08/05/10, available here.