In brief

The Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) issued on 8 March 2023 a new ordinance that renders the assessment of public interest (API) an optional proceeding in original dumping and subsidy investigations. Under the previous regulation, the API was mandatory in such original investigations and thus initiated ex officio by the Brazilian Department of Trade Defense (DECOM), together with the opening of every new investigation.

In depth

The Brazilian Decrees on Antidumping and Subsidies (Decrees No. 8,058/2013 and No. 10,839/2021) authorize the suspension of definitive antidumping and countervailing measures, and the nonapplication of such measures on a provisional basis due to public interest reasons, under exceptional circumstances.

While SECEX Ordinance No. 13 of 29 January 2020 regulates the administrative proceedings concerning the API in the context of trade defense investigations, SECEX Ordinance No. 237 of 29 January 2023 (recently published) revokes Article 5 and alters Article 6 of SECEX Ordinance No. 13/2020.

The revoked Article 5 of SECEX Ordinance No. 13/2020 provided that the API in original dumping and subsidy investigations was mandatory, and thus had to be initiated by the SECEX via an administrative act concurrent with the opening of such investigations.

In turn, Article 6 of SECEX Ordinance No. 13/2020, stated that the API was optional in sunset reviews of antidumping and countervailing measures — interested parties could request the opening of an API proceeding by filing the Public Interest Questionnaire, or it could be opened ex officio by DECOM at its discretion. According to the new version of Article 6 introduced by SECEX Ordinance No. 237/2023, the API will be optional both in original investigations and sunset reviews. At DECOM’s discretion, an API proceeding may be requested by an interested party or opened ex officio.

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