Notice of Clarification
of Automatic-Liquidation Regulation

May 1, 2003

On October 15, 1998, the Department of Commerce published a proposed clarification of the Department's position on the automatic-liquidation procedures for an intermediary. See Notice and Request for Comment on Policy Concerning Assessment of Antidumping Duties, 63 FR 55361. After review of comments received, on April 30, 2003, the Department made a final decision concerning the proposed clarification.

Automatic liquidation at the cash-deposit rate required at the time of entry can only apply to an intermediary (e.g., reseller, trading company, exporter) which does not have its own rate if no administrative review has been requested, either of the intermediary or of any producer of merchandise the intermediary exported to the United States. If the Department conducts a review of a producer of the intermediary's merchandise where entries of the merchandise were suspended at the producer's rate, automatic liquidation will not apply to the intermediary's sales. If, in the course of an administrative review, the Department determines that the producer knew, or should have known, that the merchandise it sold to the intermediary was destined for the United States, the intermediary's merchandise will be liquidated at the producer's assessment rate which the Department calculates for the producer in the review. If, on the other hand, the Department determines in the administrative review that the producer did not know that the merchandise it sold to the intermediary was destined for the United States, the intermediary's merchandise will not be liquidated at the assessment rate the Department determines for the producer or automatically at the rate required as a deposit at the time of entry. In that situation, the entries of merchandise from the intermediary during the period of review will be liquidated at the all-others rate if there was no company-specific review of the intermediary for that review period.

This clarification will apply to all entries for which the anniversary month for requesting an administrative review of an antidumping duty order or finding is May 2003 or later.

Paper copies of the decision are available in the Central Records Unit of Import Administration, Room B-099, of the Department of Commerce, 14th St. and Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230. The notice will be published in the Federal Register promptly. See Published Federal Register Notice (68 FR 23954, May 6, 2003)