U.S. Producers Applaud Government Efforts To Enforce Antidumping Orders On Plastic Bag Imports

News provided by

Feb 19, 2021, 16:11 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This release is issued by King & Spalding:

On Feb. 16, 2021, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) entered a default judgment against E.G. Plastics, Inc., an importer of plastic grocery and shopping bags from Thailand, for antidumping duties owed on its imports of polyethylene retail carrier bags (PRCBs). See https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/21-17.pdf (Default Judgment).

The antidumping order on PRCBs from Thailand became effective on June 18, 2004, after a petition to offset the unfair pricing of PRCBs from Thailand was filed by the Polyethylene Retail Carrier Bag Committee (the PRCB Committee), an ad hoc coalition of U.S. plastic bag manufacturers. Entries of PRCBs originating from Thailand are subject to antidumping duties of up to 122.88 percent.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs), E.G. Plastics entered PRCBs from Thailand and failed to pay over $1.1 million in antidumping duties and interest.

The default judgment against E.G. Plastics demonstrates that Customs and the U.S. government will continue to take action, provide notice, and bring to court parties that seek to avoid paying countervailing and antidumping duties.

Michael Taylor, a partner at the law firm of King & Spalding and counsel to the PRCB Committee, explained that "the U.S. producers of these products want to express their appreciation to the government for actively continuing to enforce the antidumping orders on PRCBs. Enforcement helps ensure that PRCBs are being sold at a fair and normal value in the United States." Taylor elaborated by saying that "the orders on PRCBs promote fair competition and help ensure a strong manufacturing base for customers of grocery and shopping bags."

Currently, there are antidumping orders on plastic grocery and shopping bags from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. There is also a countervailing duty order on such plastic bags from Vietnam, which offsets unfair government subsidies received by Vietnamese bag producers. The antidumping and countervailing duty laws are intended to provide relief to U.S. manufacturers and U.S. workers by requiring antidumping and countervailing duties to be collected on unfairly traded imports. The failure by importers to declare entries as being subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty order undermines that relief and may result in severe civil or criminal penalties, including imprisonment.

SOURCE K&S