On February 14, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published procedures in the Federal Register to request the exclusion of a particular product from the solar products safeguard measure.
The USTR will take into consideration the following factors:
- The names and locations of any producers, in the United States and foreign countries;
- Total U.S. consumption of the particular product by quantity and value;
- Details concerning the typical use or application of the particular product;
- Total U.S. production of the particular product for each year from 2014 to 2017, if any;
- The identity of any U.S.-produced substitute for the particular product, total U.S. production of the substitute for each year from 2014 to 2017, and the names of any U.S. producers of the substitute;
- Whether the particular product or substitute for the particular product may be obtained from a U.S. producer;
- Whether qualification requirements affect the requestor's ability to use domestic products;
- Whether the particular product is under development by a U.S. producer who will imminently be able to produce it in marketable quantities;
- Inventories of the particular product in the United States;
- Whether excluding the particular product from the safeguard measure would result in a benefit or advantage to the long-term competitiveness of the solar manufacturing supply chain in the United States, including by fostering research and development, supporting manufacturing innovation, or by leading to the development of differentiated products that command higher prices;
- The ability of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to administer the exclusion; and
- Any other information or data that interested persons consider relevant to an evaluation of the request.
Any requests for exclusions must be received by March 16, 2018 and any comments must be received by April 16, 2018.
The federal register notice can be found here:
