GAO: Better AD/CV duty collection unlikely through trade deals

GAO: Better AD/CV duty collection unlikely through trade deals A U.S. congressional watchdog agency told the Senate and House appropriations committees on July 24 that stengthening international agreements would not help Customs and Border Protection substantially reduce the amount of uncollected antidumping and countervailing duties.
   In March 2008, the Government Accountability Office reported that CBP had failed to collect more than $600 million in AD/CV duties.
   Antidumping duties are imposed on imports that are “dumped” on the U.S. market at less than domestic market prices. Countervailing duties are accessed on imports that are subsidized by overseas governments.
   The problem for CBP is the “retrospective nature” of the U.S. AD/CV duty system under which the final amount of duties owed may exceed the amount of cash deposits the importer paid at the time of entry. CBP may be unable to collect the full amount of duty because the importer may have gone out of business or simply can’t pay.
   The Justice Department has advised CBP that claims involving an overseas company with no discernable U.S. assets may be classified as “uncollectible” and do not need to be referred to Justice.
   The Senate and House appropriations committees asked the GAO to study the feasibility of including language for collecting AD/CV in trade agreements.
   The GAO reported that it would be next to impossible to find countries willing to enter into AD/CV-related negotiations. Other major trading countries' systems for collecting AD/CV duties don’t mesh with the U.S. system, because the final amount of AD/CV duties is established when the goods enter the country.
   Also, the GAO found that some countries would not take action on a AD/CV claim issued by CBP or the Justice Department.
   “Our analysis of international agreements to which the United States is a party identified agreements that establish rules for calculating and assessing AD/CV duties and other agreements that outlined mutual assistance between countries’ customs administrations, some of which explicitly exclude assistance regarding recovery of duties,” wrote Loren Yager, GAO’s director of international affairs and trade.
   The GAO recommended that the appropriations committees focus on changing the retrospective nature of the AD/CV duty collection process.
   “As long as the United States maintains a system that involves attempting to collect duties from importers years after they import products into the United States, it will have difficulties collecting the full amount of duties owed,” Yager said. ' Chris Gillis