Navigating Antidumping/Countervailing Duties & the EAPA
Braumiller Law Group is dedicated to helping clients with their importation needs, including helping them understand, respond to, and proactively manage AD/CVD obligations and EAPA enforcement risks.
Key Concepts
Antidumping Duties (AD): These are duties imposed on imported goods sold in the U.S. for less than fair value. The Department of Commerce will calculate a dumping margin that represents the price disparity between the lower import price and the market value of similar goods in the exporter’s home market and apply it as an additional duty at the border.
Countervailing Duties (CVD): These duties are intended to offset subsidies awarded by foreign governments to their domestic industries. To neutralize the competitive advantage that subsidies provide, an additional duty is imposed at the border.
Evasion: Evasion occurs when an importer enters covered merchandise into the U.S. using false statements, omissions of facts, or other acts that result in a reduction or avoidance of applicable AD/CVD duties. Some tactics include transshipment via third countries, misclassification of goods, and fraudulent certificates of origin.
Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA): Enacted to address the evasion of antidumping and countervailing duties, EAPA investigations have evolved into a powerful enforcement mechanism that allows domestic producers, government agencies, and other interested parties to report and/or investigate importers suspected of evading these duties.
Background
Antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws are among the most powerful trade remedy tools available under U.S. law. Together, they protect domestic industries from unfairly priced or subsidized foreign imports. For importers and supply chain participants, they create significant compliance risk if AD/CVD products are not identified and corresponding duties are not paid at time of entry.
Each AD/CVD order includes a defined scope identifying the products it covers. The Department of Commerce can also issue a scope ruling with formal determinations specifying the goods covered or excluded by an AD/CVD order. Each year interested parties may request that the Department of Commerce conduct an administrative review of an existing AD/CVD order to determine the actual duty rates applicable for a defined review period. This can result in the applicable rates increasing or decreasing from those previously in effect.
The Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) has added a new layer of trade enforcement by allowing interested parties to file allegations with CBP, which can trigger formal investigations into suspected evasion of AD/CVD. In practice, this means that third parties may report importers they believe are evading AD/CVD duties, exposing those companies to potentially swift, costly, and far-reaching consequences. These duties are designed to offset unfair pricing and foreign government subsidies, thereby helping protect domestic industries from injury caused by unfairly traded imports.
As CBP continues to increase its use of supply chain mapping software and data-driven visibility platforms, inconsistencies in sourcing, production flows, and trade routes are increasingly transparent, making potential evasion far easier to detect. As a result, an EAPA investigation and an adverse EAPA determination can therefore be highly disruptive and costly. The consequences may include supply chain disruption, reputational harm, substantial retroactive duty liability, and heightened risk of civil penalties or, in more serious circumstances, criminal exposure. Taken together, these risks make EAPA one of the most significant enforcement mechanisms importers face today.
Articles
Below is a compilation of articles our practitioner’s have written on these and similar topics:
New Importer, Old Baggage Successor Liability for Antidumping & Countervailing Duties
What we Do
Whether you are responding to an allegation, preparing for an administrative review, or looking to assess and reduce your trade compliance risk, professional guidance is essential when considering what decision to make. Our team is dedicated to helping importers and businesses understand such laws, proactively manage compliance, and if necessary, address the full spectrum of AD/CVD obligations and EAPA enforcement risks.