The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) has officially issued new trade remedy regulations, effective January 15, 2025.
These amendments revise, supplement, and repeal certain existing provisions — codifying current administrative practices and updating key legal rules related to:
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Cash deposit requirements
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Selection of surrogate countries
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Deadlines for submitting factual information
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Separate rate determinations
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Selection of respondents for investigation
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Use of adverse facts available (AFA)
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Subsidy allocation rules
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And other procedural clarifications.
1. Main Amendments in the 2025 Regulation
Table of Contents
1.1. Cash Deposit Rules
The new regulation specifies when DOC may apply per-unit cash deposits instead of ad valorem (percentage-based) deposits.
In cases where sufficient information to calculate ad valorem rates is unavailable, or where a per-unit basis more accurately reflects transaction reality, DOC may require cash deposits to be calculated per physical unit.
1.2. Surrogate Country Selection
i) GDP replaces GNI as the economic benchmark for determining comparable market-economy countries to each non-market economy (NME).
An updated list of surrogate countries for Vietnam will be published annually by DOC.
ii) DOC will consider significant producers of comparable merchandise among countries with similar economic development.
iii) When multiple candidates meet these criteria, DOC will make its final selection based on data availability, accessibility, quality, and product comparability.
1.3. Deadline for Submitting Factual Information
Deadlines have been tightened:
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For anti-dumping cases, submissions must be made no later than 60 days before the preliminary determination.
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For countervailing duty (CVD) cases, no later than 45 days before the preliminary determination.
(Previously, the deadline was 30 days.)
This change gives DOC more time to assess surrogate values and benchmark data for NME investigations.
1.4. Determining Separate Rates for Companies in NMEs
DOC has introduced stricter criteria for determining whether NME companies qualify for separate rates.
i) State ownership and control:
If the state owns more than 50% of a company — or owns 50% or less but exercises control over key business or export decisions — the company will not be eligible for a separate rate.
Control may exist if:
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The state’s shareholding gives it significant influence over production or export decisions.
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The government can veto or dictate commercial operations.
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Government-appointed officials or their family members hold managerial or board positions influencing export decisions.
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Laws or company charters grant state representatives authority to influence management.
ii) DOC also expanded factors for evaluating legal and practical government control.
iii) Third-country exporters controlled by NME governments may also be subject to the country-wide rate.
iv) Application deadline shortened:
Exporters now have 21 days (instead of 30) after initiation to apply for separate rate status.
1.5. Selection of Mandatory and Voluntary Respondents
DOC codifies its practice of selecting a reasonable number of the largest exporters as mandatory respondents, representing others in the same investigation.
The duty rates calculated for these firms will serve as the basis for all other exporters.
DOC may remove a mandatory respondent if both petitioner and respondent agree within five days of selection.
New provisions also formalize the right to apply as a voluntary respondent.
1.6. Use of Adverse Facts Available (AFA)
DOC now explicitly allows the use of partial or total adverse facts if a company or foreign government fails to cooperate.
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It may use previous subsidy rates for similar programs in the same or another country.
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It may apply the highest dumping or subsidy margins from prior cases without estimating or proving commercial reasonableness.
This gives DOC broader discretion when using AFA in investigations.
1.7. Subsidy Determination Rules
i) New criteria for subsidies arising when the government purchases goods above market value, providing an unjust benefit to the seller.
ii) A company may be considered to receive an export subsidy if it benefits from direct or indirect tax exemptions or reductions (e.g., income tax, import duty, or zone-specific relief).
iii) For corporate groups, DOC will allocate subsidies across the parent and subsidiaries’ consolidated revenue.
iv) In cases of cross-ownership between upstream and downstream producers, subsidies received by the input supplier will be apportioned across total sales of both entities.
v) Similar allocation applies to utilities (electricity, gas, etc.) if they share ownership with the producer under investigation.
vi) DOC removes exclusions for broad-based or SME subsidies and clarifies that disaster relief, pandemic assistance, and labor-support programs are not “specific” and therefore not countervailable.
vii) A single nationwide subsidy rate may be applied if company-specific rates cannot be determined. The country-wide rate for NMEs differs from the “all-others” rate for market economies.
1.8. Other Key Provisions
i) DOC clarifies that affiliated parties are not treated as a single entity unless they produce comparable goods or have a relationship relevant to the investigation.
ii) Criteria for constructing normal value (sales sources, SG&A costs, and profit margins) are detailed.
iii) Anti-dumping and countervailing duties may apply to specific producer-exporter combinations.
iv) DOC eliminates the previous 5-page summary requirement for case and rebuttal briefs.
Now, parties must submit:
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A table of contents
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A list of legal authorities cited
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A public summary (max 450 words) for each argument
v) DOC retains the right to share confidential business information with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in fraud or circumvention investigations.
2. Recommendations for Vietnamese Exporters
This amendment comes less than one year after the last update (effective April 24, 2024).
To safeguard legitimate interests in trade with the United States, the Vietnam Trade Remedies Authority (TRAV)recommends that Vietnamese exporters and industry associations:
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Study the new DOC regulations carefully before exporting to the U.S.
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Monitor developments in DOC’s annual updates, particularly the list of surrogate countries applicable to Vietnam.
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Seek legal and technical advice when responding to trade remedy investigations.
📎 For details: Refer to the official DOC 2025 Trade Remedy Regulation file (attached).