Commerce Pushes Back Deadline for Final Decision in SE Asia Solar Cell Anti-Circ Proceedings

The Commerce Department extended the deadline to issue its final determinations in the anti-circumvention inquiries concerning solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, until Aug. 17. In a memo dated April 26, Jose Rivera, international trade compliance analyst at Commerce, said that "good cause exists" to give the agency more time, including the "numerous complex methodological issues for which Commerce requires more time to analyze." Rivera added that the agency received around 20 briefs from interested parties in the inquiries.

Commerce preliminarily found that solar cells and modules from the four Southeast Asian nations are circumventing the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells from China, with a few exceptions. The petitioner in the inquiries, Auxin Solar, claimed that the use of Chinese wafers to make solar cells in Southeast Asia amounts to only "minor or insignificant" processing, meaning the products' true place of origin is China. The preliminary ruling largely confirmed the allegation (see 2212020064).

Even before the final determinations in the proceedings are announced, President Joe Biden stayed the duties, putting a hold on them until June 2024 (see 2209160065). Importers and exporters will have to certify they meet the conditions of the hold to benefit.