Commerce Makes Changes to Service of Documents in AD/CVD Proceedings

The Commerce Department amended its regulations on administrative protective orders and serving documents in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings. The changes make service of public documents, public versions of business proprietary documents and proprietary documents via electronic transmission the default method of alternative service "when service cannot be effectuated on ACCESS or when ACCESS is unavailable."

The change comports with "modern professional practice" and makes the process more efficient, Commerce said. This type of service applies to parties subject to APOs, non-subject to APOs and representing themselves.

Making the electronic service of documents the default also applies to business proprietary documents filed under the agency's "one-day lag rule." Under the rule, parties that file a last-minute extension request that goes unaddressed by Commerce are given until 8:30 a.m. ET the next business day to file the documents. This represents a departure from the proposed change, which would require parties to file a stand-alone certificate of service for documents filed under the one-day lag rule.

Many of the comments said that the stand-alone certificate proposal is "burdensome, inefficient, costly, would clutter the docket, and would not necessarily provide same-day notice of a filing," since documents submitted near the 5 p.m. ET mark "do not appear on ACCESS until the next day." In response, Commerce said that the stand-alone certificate proposal "only applies to documents submitted under the one-day lag rule and does not apply to all business proprietary documents." However, the agency amended the regulation to allow the service of one-day lag forms through electronic transmission, obviating the need for a stand-alone certificate.

Commerce also will permit the electronic service of requests for review, the final rule said. The agency's changes additionally specify that service of earlier-filed business proprietary documents that are no longer available on ACCESS can be "effectuated via secure electronic transmission."

The final rule, published Sept. 29, becomes effective Oct. 30.