Scope Inquiry Video Transcript

Scope Inquiry Video Transcript

When an antidumping or countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigation begins, one of the first things that the Department of Commerce works to figure out is what product or products will be covered by the investigation. This is called the “scope.” Determining the scope is one of the most important steps in an investigation. The scope is used by importers to understand if the product they are importing is subject to an order. Customs and Border Protection also uses the scope to enforce AD and CVD orders at the border and provide relief to impacted businesses. 

However, no matter how comprehensive the scope is, sometimes it is unclear if a product being imported falls within the scope or not. In clarifying the scope, an importer can know whether their product will be subject to a duty. If a product is found to be “in scope” then duties will be applied to that product. If a product is found to be “outside of the scope” then, that product can be imported without duties.

Scope inquiries begin with a request, but who can request a scope determination? Any interested party, including importers, U.S. or foreign manufacturers or foreign governments. Once begun, a scope inquiry takes about 10 months to complete. During this time, an importer may be required to pay duties. If the product is eventually found to be outside the scope, any duties paid will be refunded.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say, Commerce issued an order on pencils. The scope says that imports of pencils from a specific country will have duties placed on them. Do golf pencils count? What about mechanical pencils? There are many factors which go into determining whether a product is “in scope” or not. In this example, if it’s determined that the scope includes all wooden pencils, then generally speaking, golf pencils would receive duties, but mechanical pencils would not. In this way, Commerce ensures that duties provide relief to the injured U.S. manufacturers without placing duties on unnecessary or unintended products.

If you are interested in filling out a request for a scope determination, you can find the request online at access.trade.gov, on the ADCVD Resources page.