Ecuador Frozen Shrimp: Commerce Refuses to Revisit CV Duties Despite Pleas from Ecuador Gov't
The Commerce Department is refusing to revisit its decision to impose countervailing duties on frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam, despite appeals from the Ecuadorian government that the finding of illegal subsidization is the result of a misunderstanding. According to letters recently released by the Commerce Department, Ecuadorian Minister of International Trade Francisco Rivadeneira wrote Commerce in mid-August, explaining that the country’s apparent admission of an export restraint during the investigation was in fact the result of a misunderstanding between Ecuador and its law firm. But Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker responded Sept. 12 that the investigation was a “quasi-judicial” proceeding that the agency can’t just go back and change, and urged Ecuador to avail itself of upcoming administrative reviews if it wants to further pursue the matter.
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In the final determination of the CV duty investigation on shrimp from Ecuador, Commerce imposed duty rates of 10.13 to 13.51 percent on Ecuadorian exporters. The final decision reversed the agency’s preliminary finding of no illegal subsidization by the Ecuadorian government. But according to Rivadeneira’s letter, that reversal was based on a misunderstanding that Ecuador restricts exports of shrimp. In its response to a Commerce questionnaire, Ecuador’s government said the country’s “sanitary and phytosanitary laws require raw and unprocessed shrimp to be processed in order for it to be exported." But that sentence “did not clearly communicate the facts.” The reality is that Ecuador doesn’t maintain export restraints, but instead requires its exporters to comply with the rules of the foreign destination of its shrimp, the Rivadeneira’s letter said. The phrasing of the sentence in the questionnaire was the result of Ecuador’s law firm’s “misunderstanding of the information that [the government] conveyed to it,” it said.
Rivadeneira urged Commerce to revise its CV duty calculations, given the misunderstanding. “We greatly regret this misunderstanding, which now threatens the economic viability of our entire shrimp industry, including the thousands of individual shrimp fanners throughout our country who depend on sales to the processors for their livelihoods,” the letter said.
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker responded that revisiting the calculations would be impossible. Antidumping and countervailing duty investigations “are quasi-judicial in nature and must be conducted under strict statutory and regulatory guidelines,” she said. “While I understand that you believe that certain information was not clearly communicated to the Department during the investigation, our investigation has been completed and we are unable to re-examine this issue at this time,” said the letter. Pritzker said Ecuador should instead use the administrative review process to voice its concerns.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the letters.