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United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

Testimony: 

Before the Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Committee on 
Appropriations, 

U.S. Senate: 

For Release on Delivery: 
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
May 25, 2011: 

Antidumping And Countervailing Duties: 

Options for Improving Collection: 

Statement of Loren Yager, Director:
International Affairs and Trade: 

GAO-11-693T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-11-693T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 
Homeland Security, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

Since fiscal year 2001, the federal government has been unable to 
collect over $1 billion in antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) 
duties imposed to remedy injurious, unfair foreign trade practices. 
These include AD duties imposed on products exported to the United 
States at unfairly low prices (i.e., dumped) and CV duties on products 
exported to the United States that were subsidized by foreign 
governments. These uncollected duties show that the U.S. government 
has not fully remedied the unfair trade practices for U.S. industry 
and has lost out on a substantial amount of duty revenue to the U.S. 
Treasury. 

This statement summarizes key findings from prior GAO reports on (1) 
past initiatives to improve AD/CV duty collection and (2) additional 
options for improving AD/CV duty collection. 

What GAO Found: 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Congress, and Commerce have 
undertaken several initiatives to address the problem of uncollected 
AD/CV duties, but these initiatives have not resolved the problems 
associated with collections. Some of these initiatives include the 
following: 

* Temporary adjustment of standard bond-setting formula. Importers 
generally provide a general bond to secure the payment of all types of 
duties, but CBP determined in 2004 that the amount of this bond 
inadequately protected AD/CV duty revenue. CBP took steps to address 
this by revising its standard bond-setting formula and tested it on 
one product (shrimp) to increase protection for AD/CV duty revenue 
when the final amount of duties owed exceeds the amount paid at the 
time of importation. The enhanced bonding requirement was subject to 
domestic and World Trade Organization litigation, and CBP decided to 
terminate the requirement in 2009. 

* Temporary suspension of new shipper bonding privilege. Importers 
purchasing from “new shippers”—shippers who have not previously 
exported products subject to AD/CV duties—are allowed to provide a 
bond in lieu of cash payment to cover the initial AD/CV duties 
assessed, which is known as the new shipper bonding privilege. 
Congress partially addressed the risk that CBP would not be able to 
collect initial AD/CV duties from such importers by suspending the new 
shipper bonding privilege for 3 years and requiring cash deposits for 
initial AD/CV duties, but the privilege was reinstated in July 2009. 
The Department of the Treasury stated, however, that the added risk 
associated with the bond compared with the cash deposit is low. 

Additional options exist for improving the collection of AD/CV duties. 
First, the retrospective nature of the U.S. system could be revised. 
Under the existing U.S. system, importers pay the estimated amount of 
AD/CV duties when products enter the United States, but the final 
amount of duties owed is not determined until later, a process that 
can take more than 3 years on average. This creates a risk that the 
importer may disappear, cease business operations, or declare 
bankruptcy before the government can collect the full amount owed. 
Other major U.S. trading partners have AD/CV duty systems that, while 
different from one another, treat as final the AD/CV duties assessed 
at the time a product enters the country. Second, Congress could 
revise the level of exports required for exporters applying for new 
shipper status. Under U.S. law, new shippers to the United States can 
petition for their own separate AD/CV duty rate. According to 
Commerce, a shipper can be assigned an individual duty rate based on 
as little as one shipment, intentionally set at a high price, 
resulting in a low or 0 percent duty rate. This creates additional 
risk by putting the government in the position of having to collect 
additional duties in the future rather than at the time of importation. 

What GAO Recommends: 

In March 2008 and March 2011, GAO identified options for Congress to 
consider for increasing revenues and improving the collection of AD/CV 
duties. For example, Congress could eliminate the retrospective nature 
of the U.S. system and consider the variety of alternative prospective 
systems available. Congress could also choose to provide the 
Department of Commerce (Commerce) the discretion to adjust 
requirements for new shipper reviews. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-693T] or key 
components. For more information, contact Loren Yager, 202-512-4347, 
yagerl@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Chairman Landrieu, Ranking Member Coats, and Members of the 
Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the subcommittee to 
present our findings on the enforcement of antidumping and 
countervailing duties. Since fiscal year 2001, the federal government 
has been unable to collect over $1 billion in antidumping (AD) and 
countervailing (CV) duties imposed to remedy injurious, unfair foreign 
trade practices.[Footnote 1] These include AD duties imposed on 
products exported to the United States at unfairly low prices (i.e., 
dumped) and CV duties on products exported to the United States that 
were subsidized by foreign governments. These uncollected duties show 
that the U.S. government has not fully remedied the unfair trade 
practices for U.S. industry and has lost out on a substantial amount 
of duties that would have increased revenue to the U.S. Treasury. 

In my statement today, I will summarize key findings from our prior 
reports on (1) past initiatives to improve AD/CV duty collection and 
(2) additional options for improving AD/CV duty collection. This 
statement is based on a body of work that we have conducted over the 
last several years for Congress on issues related to the enforcement 
of U.S. trade laws, particularly a 2008 report on collection of AD/CV 
duties and a report, issued earlier this year, that included improved 
collection of AD/CV duties among opportunities for enhancing 
government revenue.[Footnote 2] Since our 2008 report was issued, we 
have followed up with the U.S. government agencies involved in 
responding to our recommendations to improve AD/CV duty collection. We 
conducted our work in accordance with generally accepted government 
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform 
the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a 
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a 
reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. 

Background: 

The United States and many of its trading partners have established 
laws to remedy the unfair trade practices of other countries and 
foreign companies that cause injury to domestic industries. U.S. law 
authorizes the imposition of AD/CV duties to remedy these unfair trade 
practices, namely dumping (i.e., sales at less than normal value) and 
foreign government subsidies. The U.S. AD/CV duty system is 
retrospective, in that importers pay estimated AD/CV duties at the 
time of importation, but the final amount of duties is not determined 
until later. By contrast, other major U.S. trading partners have AD/CV 
duty systems that, although different from one another, are 
fundamentally prospective in that AD/CV duties assessed at the time a 
product enters the country are essentially treated as final. 

Two key U.S. agencies are involved in assessing and collecting AD/CV 
duties owed. The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is responsible for 
calculating the appropriate AD/CV duty rate, which it issues in an AD/ 
CV duty order.[Footnote 3] Commerce typically determines two types of 
AD/CV duty rates in the course of an initial AD/CV duty investigation 
on a product: a rate applicable to a product associated with several 
specific manufacturers and exporters, as well as an "all others" rate 
for all other manufacturers and exporters of the product who were not 
individually investigated. After the initial AD/CV duty investigation, 
Commerce can often conduct two subsequent types of review: 
administrative and new shipper. 

* Administrative review: One year after the initial rate is 
established, Commerce can also conduct a review to determine the 
actual, rather than estimated, level of dumping or subsidization. At 
the conclusion of the administrative review, the final duty rate, also 
known as the liquidation rate, is established for the product. 

* New shipper review: After an initial rate is established, a new 
shipper (i.e., a shipper who has not previously exported the product 
to the United States during the initial period of investigation and is 
not affiliated with any exporter who exported the subject merchandise) 
who is subject to the "all others" rate can request that Commerce 
conduct a review to establish the shipper's own individual AD/CV duty 
rate. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), part of the Department of 
Homeland Security, is responsible for collecting the AD/CV duties. The 
initial AD/CV duty order issued by Commerce instructs CBP to collect 
cash deposits at the time of importation on the products subject to 
the order. Once Commerce establishes a final duty rate, it 
communicates the rate to CBP through liquidation instructions, and CBP 
instructs staff at each port of entry to assess final duties on all 
relevant products (technically called liquidating).[Footnote 4] This 
may result in providing importers--who are responsible for paying all 
duties, taxes, and fees on products brought into the United States--
with a refund or sending an additional bill. 

CBP is also responsible for setting the formula for establishing the 
bond amounts that importers must pay. To ensure payment of unforeseen 
obligations to the government, all importers are required to post a 
security, usually a general obligation bond, when they import products 
into the United States.[Footnote 5] This bond is an insurance policy 
protecting the U.S. government against revenue loss if an importer 
defaults on its financial obligations. In general, the importer is 
required to obtain a bond equal to 10 percent of the amount the 
importer was assessed in duties, taxes, and fees over the preceding 
year (or $50,000, whichever is greater). In addition, importers 
purchasing from the new shipper can pay estimated AD/CV duties by 
providing a bond in lieu of paying cash to cover the duties--an option 
known as the new shipper bonding privilege. 

We previously reported that over $613 million in AD/CV duties from 
fiscal years 2001 through 2007 went uncollected, with the uncollected 
duties highly concentrated among a few industries, products, countries 
of origin, and importers.[Footnote 6] Recent CBP data indicate that 
uncollected duties from fiscal year 2001 to 2010 have grown to over $1 
billion and are still highly concentrated. For example, according to 
CBP, five products from China account for 84 percent of uncollected 
duties.[Footnote 7] 

Past Initiatives to Improve AD/CV Duty Collection Have Made Little 
Progress: 

CBP, Congress, and Commerce have undertaken several initiatives to 
address the problem of uncollected AD/CV duties. However, these 
initiatives have not resolved the problems associated with collections. 

CBP Temporarily Adjusted Standard Bond-Setting Formulas: 

In response to the problems of collecting AD/CV duties, in July 2004, 
CBP announced a revision to bonds covering certain imports subject to 
these duties, significantly increasing the value of bonds required of 
importers. CBP's goal was to increase protection for securing AD/CV 
duty revenue for certain imports when the final amount of duties owed 
exceeds the amount paid at the time of importation, without imposing 
an "excessive burden" on importers. In February 2005, CBP applied this 
revision to imports of shrimp from six countries as a test case, which 
covered a potential increase in the final AD duty rate of up to 85 
percent from the initial rate. However, shrimp importers reported that 
the costs were substantial because they had to pay up front higher 
premiums and larger collateral requirements to obtain the bonds for 
the initial duties.[Footnote 8] These increased up-front costs can 
deter malfeasance by illegitimate importers by increasing the cost of 
importing merchandise subject to AD/CV duties, but may also impose 
costs on legitimate importers that pose little risk of failing to pay 
retrospective AD/CV duties. The enhanced bonding requirement was 
subject to domestic and World Trade Organization (WTO) litigation, and 
CBP decided to terminate the requirement in April 2009.[Footnote 9] 

Congress Temporarily Suspended New Shipper Bonding Privilege: 

Congress partially addressed the risk that CBP would not be able to 
collect AD/CV duties from new shippers by suspending the new shipper 
bonding privilege from August 2006 to July 2009.[Footnote 10] As a 
result, importers purchasing from new shippers were required to post a 
cash deposit for estimated AD/CV duties, like all other importers. 
This requirement eliminated the risk of uncollected AD/CV revenues 
when the final duty amounts were assessed at the cash deposit rate or 
less because CBP did not have to issue a bill for the bonded amount. 
[Footnote 11] Upon the July 2009 expiration of the requirement, the 
new shipper bonding privilege was reinstated. The Treasury stated in a 
2008 report to Congress that the added risk associated with the bond 
compared with the cash deposit is low. 

Commerce Continues Efforts to Improve Liquidation Instructions: 

Commerce has taken steps to improve the transmission of liquidation 
instructions to CBP, which should improve CBP's ability to liquidate 
AD/CV duties in a timely manner. Once Commerce determines the final 
AD/CV duty, it publishes a notice in the Federal Register, and CBP has 
6 months to complete the liquidation process.[Footnote 12] If CBP 
fails to complete the liquidation process within 6 months, an entry is 
"deemed liquidated" at the rate asserted by the importer at the time 
of entry.[Footnote 13] Once an entry has been deemed liquidated, CBP 
cannot attempt to collect any supplemental additional duties that 
might have been owed because of an increase in the AD/CV duty rate 
from initial to final. Commerce's liquidation instructions are 
necessary for CBP to assess and collect the appropriate amount of 
AD/CV duties in a timely manner. However, we reported in 2008 that 
there were frequent delays in Commerce's transmission of liquidation 
instructions to CBP, and that about 80 percent of the time, Commerce 
failed to send liquidation instructions within its self-imposed 15-day 
deadline. In addition, we found that Commerce's liquidation 
instructions were sometimes unclear, thereby causing CBP to take extra 
time to obtain clarification. In December 2007, after we made Commerce 
officials aware of the untimely liquidation instructions, Commerce 
announced a plan for tracking timeliness, including a quarterly 
reporting requirement. In April 2011 Commerce officials told us that 
Commerce had deployed a system for tracking Commerce's liquidation 
instructions. In addition, Commerce and CBP established a mechanism 
for CBP port personnel to submit questions to Commerce regarding 
liquidation issues. 

Agencies Believe Using International Agreements to Collect Duties 
Would Be Difficult and Ineffective: 

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees directed us to examine 
whether international agreements to which the United States is a party 
could be strengthened to improve the collection of AD/CV duties from 
importers with no attachable assets in the United States. We reported 
in 2008 that U.S. agency officials believed this would be both 
difficult and ineffective because of two key obstacles: Few countries 
are willing to enter into negotiations, and U.S. and foreign 
governments have a practice of not enforcing a revenue claim based 
upon the revenue laws of another country.[Footnote 14] In addition, 
agency officials stated that strengthening international agreements 
would not substantially improve the collection of AD/CV duties, given 
the retrospective nature of the AD/CV duty system and the high cost of 
litigation. 

Additional Options Exist for Improving Collection of AD/CV Duties: 

There are two key components of the U.S. AD/CV duty system that have 
not been addressed but could improve the collection of AD/CV duties: 
the retrospective nature of the system and the new shipper review 
process. In addition, Commerce and CBP are contemplating changes to 
the bonding process. 

Retrospective Nature of U.S. System Could Be Revised: 

One key component of the U.S. AD/CV duty system is its unique 
retrospective nature, which creates risks of uncollected duties both 
because of time lags and rate changes. As discussed earlier, importers 
pay the estimated amount of AD/CV duties when products enter the 
United States, but the final amount of duties owed is not determined 
until later. In 2008, we found that the average time elapsed between 
entry of goods and liquidation was more than 3 years. The long time 
lag between the initial entry of a product and the final assessment of 
duties heightens the risk that the government will be unable to 
collect the full amount owed, as importers may disappear, cease 
business operations, or declare bankruptcy. 

The final amount owed under the retrospective system of the United 
States can also be substantially more than the original estimate, 
putting revenue at risk. We reported that, while final AD duty rates 
are lower than or the same as the estimated duty rates the vast 
majority of the time, in some cases final duty rates are significantly 
higher. On the basis of our analysis of more than 6 years of CBP data 
covering over 900,000 entries subject to AD duties, we found that duty 
rates went up 16 percent of the time, went down 24 percent of the 
time, and remained the same 60 percent of the time.[Footnote 15] When 
duty rates increased, the median increase was less than 4 percentage 
points.[Footnote 16] However, because of some large increases, the 
average rate increase was 62 percentage points, with some increases 
greater than 150 to 200 percentage points. The majority of uncollected 
duty bills over $500,000 are attributed to rate increases greater than 
150 percentage points. 

In our 2008 report, we noted that the advantages and disadvantages of 
prospective and retrospective AD/CV duty systems differ and depend on 
specific design features. 

* In prospective AD/CV duty systems, the amount of AD/CV duties paid 
by the importer at the time of importation is essentially treated as 
final.[Footnote 17] This eliminates the risk of being unable to 
collect AD/CV duties and creates certainty for importers. In a 
retrospective AD/CV duty system, however, the amount of AD/CV duties 
owed is not determined until well after the time of importation. This 
time lag can result in "bad actors," those importers who intentionally 
avoid paying required duties, not being identified until they have 
been importing for a long time. Only after its collections efforts are 
unsuccessful does the government clearly know that duties owed by this 
importer are at serious risk for noncollection. 

* Prospective AD/CV duty systems create a smaller burden for customs 
officials because the full and final amount of AD/CV duties is 
assessed at the time of importation, whereas, according to CBP, the 
retrospective AD/CV duty system of the United States places a unique 
and significant burden on CBP's resources. 

* Depending on the design of the prospective AD/CV duty systems, the 
amount of duties assessed is based on dumping or subsidization that 
occurred in a previous period, and therefore may not equal the amount 
of actual dumping or subsidization, whereas under a retrospective 
AD/CV duty system, the amount of duties assessed reflects the actual 
amount of dumping by the exporter for the period of review. However, 
in practice, a substantial amount of retrospective AD/CV duty bills 
are not collected. 

In response to a recommendation in our 2008 report, Commerce reported 
to Congress in 2010 on the advantages and disadvantages of 
retrospective and prospective systems.[Footnote 18] While the Commerce 
report cites a variety of strengths and weaknesses for both systems, 
it states that retroactive increases in AD/CV duties are particularly 
harmful for small businesses such as shrimp and seafood importers. 
Under a retrospective system, the Commerce report notes, such small 
U.S. importers potentially face years of uncertainty over duty 
liability that can hinder their ability to make informed business 
decisions, plan investments, and create jobs. 

New Shipper Review Process Could Be Enhanced: 

Another component of the AD/CV duty collection system that has not 
been resolved is the new shipper review process. This process allows 
new manufacturers or exporters to petition for their own separate 
AD/CV duty rate. However, U.S. law does not specify a minimum amount 
of exports or number of transactions that a company must make to be 
eligible for a new shipper review, and according to Commerce 
officials, they do not have the legislative authority to create any 
such requirement. As a result, a shipper can be assigned an individual 
duty rate based on a minimal amount of exports--as little as one 
shipment, according to Commerce--and can intentionally set a high 
price for this small amount of initial exports. This creates the 
possibility that companies may be able to get a low (or 0 percent) 
initial duty rate, which will subsequently rise when the exporter 
lowers its price. This creates additional risk by putting the 
government in the position of having to collect additional duties in 
the future rather than at the time of importation. Importers that 
purchased goods from companies undergoing a new shipper review are 
responsible for approximately 40 percent of uncollected AD/CV duties. 

Commerce and CBP Recently Proposed Additional Changes to the Bonding 
Process: 

Commerce and CBP have proposed additional changes to the bonding 
process to try to reduce the risk of uncollected AD/CV duties. In 
April 2011, Commerce proposed a rule that would eliminate the bond 
that all shippers post when entering products under an AD/CV 
investigation and require a cash deposit instead.[Footnote 19] A key 
reason for the change is that importers bear full responsibility for 
future duties, according to Commerce. Separately, in May 2011, CBP's 
Commissioner of International Trade stated in a Senate hearing that 
CBP is developing internal guidance to require that importers at risk 
of evasion take out onetime bonds that cover at least the full value 
of the shipment (single-transaction bonds). Currently, shippers 
typically take out a "continuous bond" that covers all import 
transactions over the course of a year, and is calculated at 10 
percent of the prior year's duties (or $50,000, whichever is greater). 
GAO has not reviewed these proposals or assessed their potential 
effect on the collection of additional AD/CV duties . 

Concluding Observations: 

The existence of a substantial amount of uncollected AD/CV duties 
undermines the effectiveness of the U.S. government's efforts to 
remedy unfair foreign trade practices for U.S. industry. While 
Congress and federal agencies have taken actions to address the 
problem of uncollected duties, these initiatives have met with little 
success. Some additional options exist that Congress could pursue to 
further protect government revenue. In particular, Congress could 
eliminate the retrospective component of the U.S. AD/CV duty system 
and consider the variety of alternative prospective systems available. 
Congress could also make adjustments to specific aspects of the U.S. 
AD/CV duty system without altering its retrospective nature, such as 
by providing Commerce the discretion to require companies applying for 
a new shipper review to have a minimum amount or value of imports 
before establishing an individual AD/CV duty rate. However, any effort 
to improve the U.S. AD/CV duty system should consider the additional 
costs placed on legitimate importers while attempting to address the 
issue of illegitimate importers. We continue to respond to 
congressional interest in this issue, and have recently begun a review 
of the evasion of trade duty laws, in response to a request from the 
Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global 
Competitiveness, Senate Committee on Finance. 

Chairman Landrieu, Ranking Member Coats, this completes my prepared 
statement. I would be happy to respond to any questions you or other 
members of the subcommittee may have at this time. 

Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments: 

For further information about this statement, please contact Loren 
Yager at (202) 512-4347 or yagerl@gao.gov. Individuals who made key 
contributions to this statement include Christine Broderick (Assistant 
Director), Jason Bair, Ken Bombara, Aniruddha Dasgupta, Grace Lui, 
Diahanna Post, and Julia Roberts. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] In this testimony we use the phrase "uncollected AD/CV duties" to 
mean the sum of all open, unpaid bills for AD/CV duties, which 
includes those currently under protest. We include the principal 
amount of the bill, but not any accrued interest. This amount does not 
include revenue that is written off or forgone when the U.S. 
government is unable to issue duty bills within statutory deadlines. 

[2] GAO, Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Congress and Agencies 
Should Take Additional Steps to Reduce Substantial Shortfalls in Duty 
Collection, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-391] 
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 26, 2008), and Opportunities to Reduce 
Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and 
Enhance Revenue, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-318SP] 
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2011). See also International Trade: 
Customs' Revised Bonding Policy Reduces Risk of Uncollected Duties, 
but Concerns about Uneven Implementation and Effects Remain, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-50] (Washington, D.C.: 
Oct. 18, 2006). 

[3] Among other things, the order specifies the products for which 
importers must pay AD/CV duties. 

[4] 19 U.S.C. § 1500. Legal authority over customs revenue functions 
is vested in the Secretary of the Treasury and, under Treasury Order 
165, was delegated to the U.S. Customs Service. In March 2003, the 
U.S. Customs Service was transferred to the Department of Homeland 
Security, and authority over customs revenue functions was delegated 
to the Department of Homeland Security. 68 Fed. Reg. 10777-01 (Mar. 6, 
2003). 

[5] 19 C.F.R. § 142.4. 

[6] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-391]. 

[7] The products are crawfish, fresh garlic, mushrooms, honey, and 
wooden bedroom furniture. 

[8] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-50] and [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-391]. 

[9] In 2005, separate trade associations, whose membership includes 
some of the affected importers, filed two lawsuits against the United 
States challenging the bond policy. The Court of International Trade 
(CIT) dismissed one of the cases without a finding on the merits in 
2008. Seafood Exps. Ass'n of India v. United States, case no. 05-
00347, court order of Feb. 19, 2008 (Docket Entry No. 54). In August 
2009, the CIT issued a decision on the second case and ordered the 
enhanced bonding policy be set aside as arbitrary, capricious, and 
otherwise not in accordance with law. National Fisheries Inst. V. 
United States, 673 F. Supp. 2d 1270 (Ct. Int'l Trade 2009). CIT 
remanded the bond amount determinations and found that although CBP 
possessed the authority to require bonds that take into account 
antidumping duties, it arbitrarily and capriciously imposed the new 
bond formula solely on U.S. importers of subject shrimp. Id. In 
October 2010, the CIT issued a final judgment sustaining CBP's 
recalculation of the bond amounts using the pre-2004 bonding formula. 
National Fisheries Inst. V. United States, No. 05-00683, 2010 WL 
4121855 (Ct. Int'l Trade Oct. 21, 2010). In addition, WTO's Appellate 
Body ruled in July 2008 that CBP's enhanced bonding requirement was 
inconsistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements. 
United States--Measures Relating to Shrimp from Thailand and United 
States--Customs Bond Directive for Merchandise Subject to Anti-
Dumping/Countervailing Duties, WT/DS343/AB/R and WT/DS345/AB/R. 

[10] Pension Protection Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-280, § 1632(a), 
120 Stat. 780, 1165. 

[11] This temporary requirement did not eliminate the risk of 
uncollected AD/CV duties in instances where the final duty rate amount 
exceeded the cash deposit amount. 

[12] 19.U.S.C. §1504(d). 

[13] The importer must use reasonable care in making entry and, when 
filing electronically, certify that the information is true and 
correct to the best of his knowledge. 19 U.S.C. § 1484. 

[14] GAO, Agencies Believe Strengthening International Agreements to 
Improve Collection of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties Would Be 
Difficult and Ineffective, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-876R] (Washington, DC.: July 24, 
2008). 

[15] For information on how we calculated these duty rate changes, see 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-391]. 

[16] A median increase of 4 percentage points means that half of the 
time the rate increased less than 4 percentage points. 

[17] If and when the AD/CV duty rate is changed under a prospective 
system, it is applied only to future imports and has no effect on the 
amount of duties owed for previous imports. 

[18] Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, 
Relative Advantages and Disadvantages of Retrospective and Prospective 
Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Collection Systems: A Report to 
Congress. (Washington, D.C.: November 2010). 

[19] Commerce regulations refer to this as a "provisional measure." 76 
Fed. Reg. 23,225 (April 26, 2011). 

[End of section] 

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