CBP Institutes EAPA Investigation on Silica Fabric
CBP began a formal EAPA investigation into whether Acmetex Inc. and New Fire Co., Ltd. evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on amorphous silica fabric, according to a March 28 announcement by CBP. The case follows an Oct 18, 2021, allegation by Auburn Manufacturing, Inc., that claims Canadian company Acmetex evaded AD and CVD orders A-570-038 and C-570-0396 on silica fabric produced in China by misclassifying fabric as “glass cloth fiber” and transshipping covered silica fabric from China through Canada to the U.S.
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AMI alleges that Chinese company New Fire is the “exporter and non-resident importer" and that trade data suggests that New Fire has been importing and exporting glass fiber cloth for several years. AMI believes that New Fire is mislabeling the silica content of one product in order to evade the scope of the AD/CVD orders, based on trade data and alleged conversations with New Fire representatives in which New FIre recommended that AMI join the alleged evasion scheme.
CBP's Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate found the allegations reasonably suggested that Acmetex has evaded the orders and subsequently initiated the investigations on Dec. 22. Following CBP's request for information, Acmetex said that there were mistakes on its country of origin labels and that it would fix the entries. Acmetex also said that “it just purchases the finished fabrics from the manufacturer as is, and that the manufacturer doesn’t give their production and financial information to us.” Following the responses from both Acmetex and New Fire, CBP decided to consolidate the investigations involving Acmetex and New Fire into a single investigation covering both importers, and alleges that Acmetex and New Fire entered the suspected scheme together.