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Office
of The Chief Counsel
for Import Administration
Welcome
The Office of the Chief Counsel for Import Administration provides legal
support to the International Trade Administration, specifically the Assistant
Secretary for Import Administration, in connection with the administration
of the laws regulating unfairly-traded imports into the United States,
primarily the antidumping law (which deals with exports to the United
States priced below their price in the home market or below their cost
of production) and the countervailing duty law (which deals with exports
to the United States from foreign industries that receive government subsidies).
The office is headed by the Chief Counsel, who is assisted by the Deputy
Chief Counsel. There are 6 section chiefs, 18 staff attorneys, often a
law clerk, one paralegal, and three secretaries.
Office Description
The office's work may be divided into three general areas: administrative
advice; litigation; and trade agreements.
Administrative Advice
The office concurs in all substantial administrative determinations under
the antidumping and countervailing duty laws. This involves working closely
with the Import Administration as administrative proceedings progress,
in order to ensure that the ultimate decisions are defensible under U.S.
law and our international obligations, consistent with prior practice,
and do not have unacceptable implications for related negotiations.
Litigation
The office plays a critical role in defending antidumping and countervailing
duty determinations from the variety of legal challenges to which they
are now subject. Most often, this means working with the Department of
Justice to defend actions in the Court of International Trade and the
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (approximately 500 such cases
are now pending before these two courts). With increasing frequency, the
office also works with the United States Trade Representative to defend
antidumping and countervailing duty determinations against challenges
before dispute settlement panels in the World Trade Organization. Finally,
the office has sole litigating authority to defend antidumping and countervailing
duty determinations before binational panels under the North American
Free Trade Agreement.
Trade Agreements
The office works closely with the Import Administration in the negotiation
and implementation of a broad range of multilateral and bilateral agreements
relating to government subsidization and private unfair pricing practices.
The more general of these agreements include the WTO Antidumping Agreement
and the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, NAFTA,
the GATT Civil Aircraft Code, and the OECD agreement limiting unfair practices
in the shipbuilding sector. In addition, a variety of bilateral agreements
have arisen from specific antidumping and countervailing duty cases. These
have included agreements on uranium from Russia, Kazakstan, and Uzbekistan,
steel from Russia, Ukraine, and China, semiconductors from Japan and Korea,
lumber from Canada and Honey from the PRC.
The office also provides legal support in connection with
proposed legislation or regulations affecting any of the statutes overseen
by the Import Administration and in connection with administration of
the Foreign-Trade Zones program, the Florence Agreement relating to duty
free entry of scientific instruments, and the Insular Possessions watch
program.
Staff attorneys work in close cooperation with client
personnel. A staff attorney serves as one of the team members on a particular
investigation or administrative review, along with one or more Import
Administration staff analysts, providing whatever legal assistance is
required by the team. If an issue arises which needs additional legal
expertise, the appropriate section chief, the Deputy Chief Counsel, or
the Chief Counsel will meet with the team, including with other senior
managers and decision makers from the client's office.
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