The United States Issues Preliminary Conclusions on Countervailing Duty Investigations on Paper Plates Imported from Vietnam

On June 25, 2024, the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) issued a preliminary conclusion on the countervailing duty investigation on paper plates (HS codes 4823.69.0040 or 4823.61.0040 and may be packaged with other products under HS codes 9505.90.4000 and 9505.90.6000) imported from Vietnam. This case was initiated by DOC on February 14, 2024 at the request of US paper plate manufacturers.

 

In this case, DOC selected 02 mandatory respondents. However, 01 mandatory respondent refused to participate in the case, so there is only 01 mandatory respondent left in this case.

According to the preliminary conclusion just issued, the provisional countervailing duty rates are as follows:

- The sole defendant company in the case: 5.48%;

- 05 uncooperative companies (01 defendant company refused to participate in the case and 04 companies did not answer the Volume and Value question): 237.65%, calculated based on available unfavorable data;

- The remaining Vietnamese companies: 5.48% according to the tax rate of the sole defendant company.

Based on this preliminary conclusion, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will require deposits for shipments exported to the US at the above provisional countervailing duty rates from July 1, 2024

Next steps:

DOC plans to conduct on-site inspections to verify the information provided by Vietnamese enterprises. This is one of the bases for DOC to issue the final conclusion, giving the official tax rate to Vietnamese enterprises. Related parties can also submit comments on the case no later than 07 days after the date of issuance of the final review report. The rebuttal to the comments of other parties must be submitted no later than 05 days after the deadline for submitting comments.

Next, DOC may organize a Hearing if requested by the parties and issue the final conclusion (expected on November 05, 2024 if not extended).

The Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) recommends that related enterprises prepare and cooperate well with DOC in the upcoming review as well as submit comments with DOC's preliminary conclusion if necessary.

For more information, please contact: Foreign Trade Remedies Handling Department, TRA, Ministry of Industry and Trade, 23 Ngo Quyen, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.