Softwood Lumber U.S. Trade Remedy Proceedings – Impact of the partial U.S. government shutdown

To customs brokers representing softwood lumber companies, Global Affairs Canada would be grateful for onward transmission of this notice to your clients.

Further to our email of December 18, 2018, please note that the United States government is currently in a partial shutdown.

Companies should continue to assume that the deadline for filing administrative review requests is January 31, 2019 unless and until the U.S. Department of Commerce issues a written extension of the deadline.

For those companies that are already registered on ACCESS, they may begin filing administrative review requests.  We have prepared template letters that can be used, which we will post shortly to our dedicated softwood lumber webpage (see below).  As provided in the instructions, companies should make sure to print and retain a copy of the confirmation of filing on ACCESS and must serve a copy of the request on the petitioner.

For those companies that are not already registered on ACCESS, they can file their ACCESS registration request but will not receive approval of their registration until the U.S. government reopens and Commerce personnel are able to issue the approval.  Without this approved ACCESS registration companies will not be able to file their administrative review requests through ACCESS at this time.   We do, however, recommend that companies file their ACCESS registration requests and maintain a copy of the registration receipt. We also recommend companies complete the template letters so they are ready to be filed when possible.

We are continuing to monitor the situation.  If the U.S. government is not open by January 22, and we do not have written confirmation that the deadlines will be extended, we will post a contingency plan as to how companies without a functioning ACCESS e-filer account should complete their administrative review filings.  

For more information, please see Global Affairs Canada’s dedicated softwood lumber Frequently Asked Questions webpage (http://www.international.gc.ca/controls-controles/softwood-bois_oeuvre/other-autres/faq.aspx?lang=eng) which contains information specifically on the administrative review process. This page is regularly updated.

Please feel free to reach out to us directly by e-mail with any questions or comments at softwood.boisdoeuvre@international.gc.ca.

Softwood Lumber Division
Global Affairs Canada