Notice2026-16003
Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada: Notice of Amended Final Results of Countervailing Duty Expedited Review; Notice of Reinstatement of Countervailing Duty Order
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 6, 2026
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued its final judgment in Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United States, et al., Consol. Court No. 19-00122 (Slip Op. 26-77) (CIT 2026) sustaining the U.S. Department of Commerce's (Commerce) final results of remand redetermination (remand redetermination), concerning the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from Canada. In particular, the CIT sustained Commerce's remand redetermination calculating a 1.05 percent ad valorem subsidy rate for Les Produits Forestiers D&G Lt[eacute]e (D&G) and its cross-owned company Les Produits Forestiers Portbec Lt[eacute]e (Portbec). Because D&G/Portbec's rate is now above de minimis, subject merchandise produced and exported by D&G/Portbec is included within the CVD order on softwood lumber from Canada.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 150 (Thursday, August 6, 2026)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 150 (Thursday, August 6, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50793-50795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-16003]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[C-122-858]
Certain Softwood Lumber Products From Canada: Notice of Amended
Final Results of Countervailing Duty Expedited Review; Notice of
Reinstatement of Countervailing Duty Order
AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT)
issued its final judgment in Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber
International Trade Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United
States, et al., Consol. Court No. 19-00122 (Slip Op. 26-77) (CIT 2026)
sustaining the U.S. Department of Commerce's (Commerce) final results
of remand redetermination (remand redetermination), concerning the
countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain softwood lumber products
(softwood lumber) from Canada. In particular, the CIT sustained
Commerce's remand redetermination calculating a 1.05 percent ad valorem
subsidy rate for Les Produits Forestiers D&G Lt[eacute]e (D&G) and its
cross-owned company Les Produits Forestiers Portbec Lt[eacute]e
(Portbec). Because D&G/Portbec's rate is now above de minimis, subject
merchandise produced and exported by D&G/Portbec is included within the
CVD order on softwood lumber from Canada.
DATES: Applicable August 6, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Johnson, AD/CVD Operations,
Office III, Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-4793.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On January 3, 2018, Commerce published the CVD Order on softwood
lumber from Canada.\1\ On July 5, 2019,
[[Page 50794]]
Commerce published its Expedited Review Final for the Order covering
the period January 1, 2015, through December 31, 2015.\2\ In the
Expedited Review Final, Commerce calculated a de minimis subsidy rate
of 0.21 percent ad valorem for D&G/Portbec.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Amended
Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and
Countervailing Duty Order, 83 FR 347 (January 3, 2018) (Order).
\2\ See Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Final
Results of Countervailing Duty Expedited Review, 84 FR 32121 (July
5, 2019) (Expedited Review Final), and accompanying Issues and
Decision Memorandum.
\3\ Id., 84 FR at 32122. Commerce finds the following companies
to be cross-owned with D&G/Portbec: Le Groupe Gesco-Star Lt[eacute]e
and Les Produits Forestiers Startrees Lt[eacute]e. Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade
Investigations or Negotiations (the COALITION) appealed Commerce's
Expedited Review Final, challenging Commerce's statutory authority to
promulgate its expedited review regulations at 19 CFR 351.214(k) to
determine individual subsidy rates for companies not individually
examined in an investigation. On November 19, 2020, the CIT remanded
Commerce's Expedited Review Final for reconsideration of the statutory
basis upon which Commerce conducted the expedited review.\4\ On
February 22, 2021, Commerce issued its First Remand Redetermination,\5\
in which Commerce found that it did not have the statutory authority to
promulgate the CVD expedited review regulations at 19 CFR 351.214(k),
and to conduct CVD expedited reviews. On August 18, 2021, the CIT
affirmed Commerce's remand and vacated the expedited review regulation
at 19 CFR 351.214(k), as well as the Expedited Review Final.\6\
Accordingly, the CIT declined to consider the remaining challenges to
the Expedited Review Final raised by several of the expedited review
companies and the COALITION.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United States, et
al., 483 F.Supp.3d 1253 (CIT 2020).
\5\ See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court
Remand, Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade
Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United States, et al.,
Court No. 19-00122, Slip Op. 20-167 (CIT 2020), dated February 22,
2021 (First Remand Redetermination). Commerce's final remand
redeterminations are available at <a href="https://access.trade.gov/FinalRemandRedetermination">https://access.trade.gov/FinalRemandRedetermination</a>.
\6\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, 535 F.Supp.3d
1336 (CIT 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit reversed the CIT's decision and held that Commerce has the
statutory authority to adopt the CVD expedited review process, and
remanded for further proceedings necessitated by its holding that such
statutory authority exists.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States,
66 F.4th 968 (Fed. Cir. 2023).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 24, 2024, the CIT sustained several of Commerce's
determinations in the Expedited Review Final, but remanded certain
issues to Commerce including its decision not to attribute subsidies to
D&G/Portbec received by their unaffiliated lumber suppliers.\8\
Accordingly, on September 10, 2024, Commerce issued its Second Remand
Redetermination in which the subsidy rate for D&G/Portbec was
recalculated by treating them as trading companies, pursuant to 19 CFR
351.525(c), with respect to their purchases of lumber from unaffiliated
Canadian suppliers that was either further processed (or
remanufactured) and sold to the United States, or resold without
further processing to the United States.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Consol. Court
No. 19-00122, Slip Op. 24-50 (CIT April 22, 2024).
\9\ See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court
Remand, Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade
Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Consol. Court No.
19-00122, Slip Op. 24-50 (CIT 2024), dated September 10, 2024
(Second Remand Redetermination).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On January 21, 2025, the CIT sustained Commerce's determination to
treat D&G/Portbec as trading companies, but remanded the revised
subsidy rate calculation for D&G/Portbec.\10\ Additionally, at this
time, D&G/Portbec argued that Commerce should seek additional
information from Portbec concerning its purchases of lumber from
unaffiliated Canadian suppliers delivered in the United States.\11\ On
April 21, 2025, Commerce issued its Third Remand Redetermination
disagreeing with D&G/Portbec that the subsidy calculation should not
include lumber purchases Portbec made in the United States and that the
record should be reopened to solicit the value of these purchases. With
respect to the subsidy rate calculation for D&G/Portbec, Commerce
reconsidered the calculation from the Second Remand Redetermination and
found that the original calculation inappropriately weighted D&G/
Portbec's purchases and sales. Therefore, Commerce applied an approach
that considered each company's relative share of purchases of lumber
from unaffiliated Canadian suppliers and each company's relative share
of total sales to calculate the subsidy rate attributable to D&G and
Portbec, under the trading company regulation, 19 CFR 351.525(c).
Commerce, thus, calculated an overall subsidy rate of 1.75 percent ad
valorem, which is above de minimis, for D&G/Portbec.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Consol. Court
No. 19-00122, Slip Op. 25-8 (CIT January 21, 2025).
\11\ See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court
Remand, Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade
Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Consol. Court No.
19-00122, Slip Op. 25-8 (CIT 2025), dated April 21, 2025 (Third
Remand Redetermination) at 5.
\12\ Id. at 14-15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its December 18, 2025, order and opinion, the CIT remanded
Commerce Third Remand Redetermination for it to reconsider the
documentation that D&G/Portbec proffered with regard to the lumber
which the companies claimed was purchased from importers after
importation into the United States during 2015.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United States, et
al., Consol. Court No. 19-00122 (Slip Op. 25-158) (CIT 2025).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 17, 2026, Commerce issued its Fourth Remand
Redetermination in which it considered documentation provided by D&G/
Portbec regarding lumber that was purchased from unaffiliated lumber
suppliers in the United States after it was imported (i.e.,
resales).\14\ As a result, Commerce calculated a revised subsidy rate
of 1.05 percent ad valorem, which is above de minimis. On July 21,
2026, the CIT issued its final judgment sustaining Commerce's Expedited
Review Final, as amended by the second, third and fourth
redeterminations on remand.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court
Remand, Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade
Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, Consol. Court No.
19-00122, Slip Op. 25-158 (CIT 2025), dated April 17, 2026 (Fourth
Remand Redetermination).
\15\ See Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International
Trade Investigations or Negotiations, et al. v. United States, et
al., Consol. Court No. 19-00122 (Slip Op. 26-77) (CIT 2026).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amended Final Results and Reinstatement to the Order
Because the court has issued a final judgment, Commerce is amending
its Expedited Review Final with respect to the countervailable subsidy
rate assigned to D&G/Portbec. As a result of the CIT's final judgment
issued on July 21, 2026, D&G/Portbec's rate of 1.05 percent ad valorem
is now above de minimis, and subject merchandise produced and exported
by D&G/Portbec is included in the Order, effective on the date of
publication of this notice.
Cash Deposit Requirements
Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to
collect cash
[[Page 50795]]
deposits of estimated countervailing duties for D&G/Portbec, at the
rate shown above, on shipments of subject merchandise entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of
publication of the amended final results of this expedited review.
These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect
until further notice.
Notification to Interested Parties
This notice is issued and published in accordance with section
777(i)(1) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
Dated: July 30, 2026.
Christopher Abbott,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Negotiations, performing the
non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary for
Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2026-16003 Filed 8-5-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 6, 2026.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.