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• On March 21, 2017, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced its affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of 1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from the People’s Republic of China (China).
• The AD and CVD laws provide U.S. businesses and workers with a transparent, quasi-judicial, and internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the market-distorting effects caused by injurious dumping and subsidization of imports into the United States, establishing an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
• For the purpose of an AD investigation, dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than its fair value. For the purpose of a CVD investigation, a countervailable subsidy is financial assistance from foreign governments that benefits the production of goods from foreign companies and is limited to specific enterprises or industries, or is contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods.
• Commerce found that dumping has occurred by mandatory respondents Shandong Taihe Chemical Co., Ltd., and Nanjing University of Chemical Technology Changzhou Wujin Water Quality Stabilizer Factor and Nantong Uniphos Chemical Co., Ltd. (collectively “WW Group”), at dumping margins of 167.58 percent and 184.01 percent, respectively. Commerce assigned a final margin of 179.76 percent to the non-selected respondents eligible for a separate rate. Commerce determined a final dumping margin of 184.01 percent based on adverse facts available for all other producers/exporters in China that are part of the China-wide entity due to their failure to respond to Commerce’s requests for information.
• Commerce calculated a final subsidy rate of 2.40 percent for mandatory respondents Shandong Taihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. and Shandong Taihe Water Treatment Technologies Co., Ltd., (collectively, the Taihe Companies) and a final subsidy rate of 0.75 percent (de minimis) for mandatory respondent Nanjing University of Chemical Technology Changzhou Wujin Water Quality Stabilizer Factory (“Wujin Water”). Seven companies, which did not respond to the Department’s request for quantity and value information, have been assigned a rate of 54.11 percent, based on total adverse facts available (AFA). All other producers/exporters in China have been assigned a final subsidy rate of 2.40 percent.
• Upon publication of the final affirmative AD determination, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits equal to the applicable final weighted-average dumping margins. Commerce will not order the resumption of the suspension of liquidation under the CVD proceeding, nor will it require cash deposits equal to the final subsidy rates, unless and until the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issues an affirmative injury determination. At that time, pursuant to sections 777A(F) and 772(c)(1)(C) of the Act, Commerce will also reduce the AD cash deposit rates by the amount of the final CVD export subsidies (i.e., 0.3 percent for Shandong Taihe Chemicals Co., Ltd. and the two separate-rate companies only). In the event of a negative ITC determination, the AD and CVD proceedings will be terminated and all entries liquidated without regard to cash deposits.
• The petitioner is Compass Chemical International LLC (GA).
• The merchandise covered by these investigations includes all grades of aqueous acidic (non-neutralized) concentrations of 1-hydroxyethylidene-1, 1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP), also referred to as hydroxyethylidenendiphosphonic acid, hydroxyethanediphosphonic acid, acetodiphosphonic acid, and etidronic acid. The Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) registry number for HEDP is 2809-21-4.
• The merchandise subject to these investigations is currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) at subheading 2931.90.9043. It may also enter under HTSUS subheadings 2811.19.6090 and 2931.90.9041. While HTSUS subheadings and the CAS registry number are provided for convenience and customs purposes only, the written description of the scope of these investigations is dispositive.
• In 2015, imports of HEDP from China were valued at an estimated $290.1 million.

• The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is scheduled to make its final determinations on or about May 4, 2017.
• If the ITC makes affirmative final determinations that imports of HEDP from China materially injure, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders. If the ITC makes negative determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated.