WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) is giving itself an additional six months to complete its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture imported from China in 2010.

In a notice posted in the March 27 Federal Register, the DOC said it "has determined that it is not practicable to complete the review within the current deadline because it continues to require additional time to evaluate the arguments and submissions made by interested parties following the Preliminary Results." The deadline for the final results of the administrative review which were previously due no later than March 22 are now extended until no later than August 20.

This is the second extension the DOC has made since posting its initial plans to conduct an administrative review on February 28, 2011.

Just last month, a new round of inquiries into wooden bedroom furniture was initiated by the DOC. This one involves 198 firms, most of them Chinese, for products that were allegedly unfairly subsidized.

Back in December 2004, U.S. furniture makers banning together as the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade, won their case for the imposition of duties on Chinese wooden bedroom furniture makers. The International Trade Commission voted 6-0 "that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of wooden bedroom furniture from China that the Department of Commerce has determined are sold in the United States at less than fair value."

In December 2010, the ITC voted to extend its antidumping on Chinese wooden bedroom furniture by another five years.

Members of the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade, including Vaughan-Basset Furniture, Kincaid Furniture, L. & J.G. Stickley Furniture, La-Z-Boy and Stanley Furniture Company, have divided tens of millions of dollars in antidumping duties collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service over the years. The companies are eligible for these proceeds under the under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 or CDSOA for successfully supporting the antidumping petition.

03/28/2012 12:43:00 PM

By Rich Christianson

Source: woodworkingnetwork.com