John S. Connor, Inc. participated in recent weeks to push through the Byrd repeal provision in the face of stiff opposition in the Senate.
The Byrd amendment was originally passed in 2000 and stipulates that all antidumping and countervailing duties be distributed to companies who filed the antidumping and countervailing duty petitions, rather than going into the general treasury. It was ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization and provoked four US trading partners [Canada, Mexico, Japan and the EU] to impose approximately $134 million in retaliatory tariffs.
In the compromise approved by Congress, repeal of the Byrd amendment will be delayed until October 1, 2007. This ensures that lumber, ball bearings, and chipmakers will be able to receive duties collected before that date. Despite the deferred repeal date, this is a significant accomplishment since Byrd repeal was considered nearly impossible because of the broad support for the Byrd amendment in the Senate. Only last week, 73 Senators voted to instruct conferees to strip the repeal provision from the budget bill.