United States: Department Of Commerce Announces Revocation Of Antidumping Duty Orders On Ball Bearings From Japan And The United Kingdom – Cash Deposits No Longer Required

In April, the U.S. Court of International Trade ("CIT") determined that the antidumping duty orders on ball bearings from Japan and the United Kingdom should be revoked. However, no action had been taken by the Department of Commerce ("Commerce") to revoke these orders since the government and the domestic industry are appealing the CIT decision. Part of the appeal process included a request for a stay of the CIT decision, which was denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") on July 6, 2011. Based on the CAFC's denial, Commerce issued a Revocation Notice on July 12, 2011.

Pursuant to the Revocation Notice, as of July 16, 2011, Commerce will no longer require that importers post cash deposits of estimated antidumping duties for bearings from Japan and the United Kingdom. Additionally, Commerce has discontinued all unfinished administrative reviews and will not initiate any further reviews of these antidumping orders. These actions, however, do not impact the antidumping duty orders on ball bearings from France, Germany, and Italy or the ongoing reviews of these orders.

Based upon our review of the Revocation Notice, although the antidumping duty orders are being "revoked," it does not appear that Commerce will be instructing Customs to liquidate the subject entries without antidumping duties. In light of the revocation, however, many entries will not be subject to a injunction or suspension of liquidation and, as a result, Customs may have an obligation to liquidate these entries without regard to antidumping duties. Accordingly, there may be an opportunity to obtain a refund of all antidumping duties paid for certain unliquidated entries from these countries (e.g., entries subject to a pending administrative review or other entries, not subject to a pending review or litigation, that remain unliquidated).

Given the history of this case, we believe that it is important to act quickly in order to take advantage of this opportunity

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