The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced an opportunity to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China.  If your company imports into the United States wooden bedroom furniture that was produced in China and are subject to a high cash deposit rate, then you may want to consider requesting an administrative review of exports by your Chinese supplier.  The deadline for requesting an administrative review is January 31, 2014.  Conversely, if you do not request a review, you may still need to prepare for the administrative review, because the petitioners almost always request reviews of numerous Chinese producers and exporters.  

Every January, the DOC offers an opportunity for parties to request an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China.  U.S. importers of wooden bedroom furniture from China generally must post cash deposits of estimated antidumping duties, which deposits are set based on the rate calculated for the applicable Chinese producer/exporter in the last completed administrative review.  The purpose of the administrative review is two-fold: (1) to calculate final antidumping duties for a particular producer/exporter, resulting in either a refund of part or all the cash deposits, or a calculation of additional antidumping duties owed; and (2) to set a new cash deposit rate for future U.S. imports.

Any company that is a U.S. producer of wooden bedroom furniture may request an administrative review of any Chinese producer or exporter.  Any Chinese producer or exporter may request an administrative review of itself.  Finally, any U.S. importer may request an administrative review of imports imported during the period of review by that U.S. importer.  The period of review isJanuary 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.

As noted above, historically the petitioners in this case have requested a review every year of a very large number of Chinese producers and exporters.  As you may be aware, opportunities may exist to “settle” with the petitioners and therefore maintain your existing rate.  

Also note that this review period may be slightly different than previous review periods.  In the past, DOC chose to review in detail two or three of the largest Chinese exporters.  Based on a change in policy, however, DOC may also choose a respondent based on a sampling methodology.