International Trade Law News

The U.S. Department of Commerce's (DOC) International Trade Administration yesterday published in the Federal Register an important clarification involving the statutory deadlines for adntidumping and countervailing duty administrative proceedings. The notice states that "where a statutory deadline falls on a weekend, federal holiday, or any other day when the Department is closed, the Department will continue its longstanding practice of reaching our determination on the next business day."

This clarification was made in light of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's (CAFC) recent decision in Dofasco, Inc. v. United States, 390 F.3d 1370, 1372 (Fed. Cir. 2004). In Dofasco, DOC published its notice of opportunity to request an administrative review on August 1, 2003. The notice stated that an administrative review would be conducted pursuant to "requests received by the last day of August 2003." The last day of August 2003 was a Sunday and September 1, 2003, was Labor Day, a federal holiday. United States Steel Corporation (USSC) filed a request for administrative review of Dofasco's antidumping liability on September 2, 2003. Dofasco asked the DOC to rescind its administrative review on the basis that USSC's request was untimely, not having been filed "by the last day of August." DOC refused to rescind the administrative review, claiming that its regulations provide that "if the applicable time limit expires on a non-business day, [Commerce] will accept documents that are filed on the next business day." The CAFC disagreed with Dofasco and held that a request for an administrative review was timely filed as long as the filing is made on the next business day following a non-business day, even if that day falls in the following month.

DOC's clarification notice can be found at the following link:
a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/
edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/E5-2234.htm