Bye, Bye Byrd Amendment! CITAC Applauds Demise of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act.

As of Today, Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duty Payments No Longer Diverted to Petitioners

WASHINGTON -- October 1 marks the official end of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, commonly known as the "Byrd Amendment," a law funneling all money collected by the government from anti-dumping and countervailing duties to the companies that petitioned for those duties or supported the petition, with no strings attached. The law repealing the Byrd Amendment was signed on February 8, 2006, but the repeal delayed implementation of the phase out, permitting payouts to continue on duties collected on imports before October 1, 2007.

At least $1.4 billion in Byrd Amendment payouts have been distributed since 2001. Two-thirds of all payments went to only three industries: bearings, candles and steel.

"This is a significant milestone for U.S. consuming industries," said CITAC Executive Director Steve Alexander. "The Byrd Amendment was bad legislation, passed in secret without any hearings and ignoring the interests of consuming industries. The law offered a case study of unintended and undesirable consequences. It taxed American consuming industries and subsidized a few domestic producers by funneling the duties collected into their pockets. But in so doing, it violated international agreements, helped raise prices on needed inputs, and provoked retaliation on U.S. exports. CITAC celebrates the end of these ill-conceived distortions, and we look forward to removing more obstacles to the competitiveness of American industry."

"The negative impact of the Byrd Amendment was felt by U.S. manufacturers until the very end," said CITAC Counsel and Hogan & Hartson partner Lewis Leibowitz. "During the 20 month period between the passage of the Byrd Amendment repeal and today, U.S. industries were hit by further retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, with $81.2 million from the European Union and $48.18 million from Japan in 2007 alone. This retaliation costs U.S. exporters, while a few companies benefited from the lion's share of Byrd money distributions. Starting today, these import duties will stay with the U.S. Treasury where they belong, instead of going to a handful of companies, where they distort competition."

In 2002, The World Trade Organization ruled that the Byrd Amendment violated U.S. trade obligations, leading to retaliation against U.S. exports by Canada, the European Union, Japan and Mexico. In 2005, a Government Accountability Office study found that the law benefited a handful of large companies, that accountability for the accuracy of the nearly $2 trillion in claims was "virtually non-existent," and that the law "undermines the effectiveness of trade remedies generally." Byrd Amendment repeal will save hundreds of millions of dollars and reduce the impact of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on downstream users of essential imported products, such as steel, bearings and various consumer goods.

CITAC is a coalition of companies and organizations committed to ensuring that consuming industries and manufacturers in America have access to reliable supplies of globally priced materials necessary for those industries to produce their products. For additional information, visit www.citac.info or contact Amanda Lahan at [phone] or [e-mail].