Scope of the Investigation
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When filing a petition, the petitioner is required to include a detailed description of the merchandise that will be covered under the investigation. This detailed description generally defines the scope of the investigation and should include the technical characteristics and uses of the merchandise and its current U.S. tariff classification number.
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The scope of an investigation may also be referred to as the class or kind of merchandise under investigation or the merchandise subject to the investigation. A single antidumping duty investigation involves only one class or kind of merchandise.
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In evaluating the petition’s proposed scope language, the Department attempts to ensure that the scope of an investigation is defined as accurately as possible, and that products in which the affected industry has no interest are removed, or not included in the scope of the investigation.
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In evaluating a petition’s proposed scope language, the Department undertakes two procedures which were adopted in the Department’s current regulations.
(i) If the petitioner seeks pre-petition filing consultations, the Department will ensure that the proposed scope of the petition is an accurate reflection of the product for which the domestic industry is seeking relief.
(ii) Since petitioners may not be aware that the scope is over inclusive until U.S. purchasers have an opportunity to review the scope language, the Department designates a period early in the investigation for interested parties to raise issues regarding product coverage. Usually, this comment period is the twenty day period following publication of the Notice of Initiation in the Federal Register.
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In addition to reviewing whether a petition’s proposed scope language is over inclusive, the Department also tries to ensure that the description of the merchandise is not so narrow that obvious circumvention issues could arise in the future should an order be imposed.
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Additionally, the Department checks to make sure that the merchandise is not being defined in an artificially narrow manner for industry support purposes.
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