Background
The Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), Title IV, Section 421 of the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act (TFTEA) of 2015, was signed into law on February 24, 2016, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) implementing regulations were issued on August 22, 2016. EAPA establishes procedures for an “ interested party” to submit an allegation that an importer is evading its payment of antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) duties. AD and CVD duties are intended to offset the value of dumping and/or subsidization, thereby leveling the playing field for domestic industries injured by such unfairly traded imports.
Benefits of Filing an EAPA Allegation
- Creates a multi-party proceeding with greater information-sharing and transparency to investigate the evasion of AD/CVD orders.
- Requires CBP to determine whether evasion occurred within specified timeframes and provide that determination to the parties to the investigation.
- Provides CBP with new tools to investigate allegations and authorizes the collection of information from the party bringing the allegation, the importer, the foreign manufacturer/exporter, and even the foreign government.
- Allows for parties to the investigation to contest the determination as to evasion by requesting an administrative review of the determination with CBP Office of Trade’s Regulations and Rulings Directorate. Afterward, a party to that administrative review may file suit with the Court of International Trade to contest CBP’s determination.
Filing an EAPA Allegation
If you do not feel that the information you have meets EAPA requirements, you may want to consider filing an e-Allegation. The e-Allegations program is another way that you can submit suspected trade violations. Learn more about e-Allegations.
Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: An agency may not conduct or sponsor an information collection and a person is not required to respond to this information unless it displays a current valid OMB control number. The control number for this collection is 1651-0131, expiration 02/28/2021. This collection is currently under review a new expiration date is pending. The estimated average time to complete this submission is 15 minutes per respondent.
