On a Federal Register notice to be published on September 20, 2013, the Department of Commerce issued a final ruling to amend the regulations regarding the extension of time limits for submissions in antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) measures.

Parties are alerted to request extensions early enough to allow the Department to action the request prior to the time limit expiring. The notice furthermore states that "Only if the Department determines that the party has demonstrated that extraordinary circumstances exist will the Department then consider whether the party has demonstrated that good cause exists for allowing an extension of the time limit pursuant to section 351.302(b)"

The final rule defines extraordinary circumstances as an unexpected event that:

•  Could not have been prevented if reasonable measures had been taken
•  Precludes a party or its representative from timely filing an extension request through all reasonable means

The rule will become effective thirty days from the date of publication in the Federal Register and will amend the regulations under 19CFR 351.

The Federal Register Notice can be accessed here