U.S. Importers: 90 Day EAPA Risk and 8 Step Antidumping Plan for 2026

Antidumping duties are special tariffs that the U.S. government imposes on imported goods sold below fair value, authorized under Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930. The Department of Commerce sets the duty rate and the U.S. International Trade Commission confirms domestic injury, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection collects cash deposits and enforces the order at the border. If your goods might fall under an active order, you need to check scope language now, prepare for cash deposit obligations, and watch for enforcement actions tied to that case.

TL;DR:

• Reporting scope language and filing scope ruling requests before shipments land prevents retrospective duties and classification disputes.
• CBP’s enforcement actions, including EAPA investigations, can disrupt shipments and require operational controls like supplier audits and origin verification.
• During an active antidumping case, cash deposit obligations commence immediately after a preliminary affirmative finding, often before negotiations finish.
• Periodic reviews and sunset determinations can raise or lower duty rates, requiring ongoing tracking and participation in reviews.
• Using DDP shipping services can simplify duty management, but legal scope and investigation issues still require trade counsel involvement.

What antidumping and countervailing duties are, and who enforces them

Antidumping (AD) duties target foreign goods priced below their home-market value, while countervailing duties (CVD) target goods that benefit from foreign government subsidies. Both remedies trace back to Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930, which sets up a two-agency investigation structure that still governs every case filed today.

Three federal bodies share responsibility, and each one controls a different lever:

• Commerce (International Trade Administration): calculates the dumping margin or subsidy rate, defines the scope of covered merchandise, and issues the final order.
• U.S. International Trade Commission: determines whether the domestic industry suffered material injury or a threat of injury from the dumped or subsidized imports.
• Customs and Border Protection: suspends liquidation of entries, collects cash deposits once Commerce finds in favor of a petition, and polices ongoing compliance with existing orders.

Commerce calculates the rate and the USITC rules on injury, but CBP is the agency that actually touches your shipments. That split matters operationally: a favorable Commerce ruling means nothing if CBP flags your entries at the port, and a dispute over duty owed almost always runs through CBP’s AD/CVD FAQ process, rather than Commerce directly.

How an AD investigation unfolds, and the deadlines that matter

An antidumping case follows a fixed statutory sequence, and the timing determines exactly when your cash deposit obligations begin. Missing a deadline on your end, such as a scope ruling request, can mean the difference between a clean entry and a retroactive bill.

1. Petition and initiation: domestic producers file a petition, and Commerce decides within about 20 days whether the petition is sufficient to proceed.
2. USITC preliminary injury determination: the USITC generally issues a preliminary injury finding within a few weeks to two months of the petition.
3. Commerce preliminary determination: Commerce’s preliminary dumping or subsidy determination typically follows 100 to 190 days after initiation, depending on case complexity and any extensions.
4. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposits: once Commerce issues an affirmative preliminary finding, CBP suspends liquidation on covered entries and begins collecting cash deposits at the preliminary rate.
5. Final determinations and order: Commerce and the USITC issue final determinations, and if both are affirmative, Commerce publishes an antidumping order and CBP continues collecting deposits until a retrospective assessment sets the final duty owed.

A preliminary affirmative finding can turn into an immediate cash flow event: the moment Commerce publishes it, CBP starts collecting deposits on every covered entry, often before you have finished negotiating terms with your supplier for the next shipment, a sequence laid out in Commerce’s own determination notices.

Is your import covered? Scope language, HTSUS codes, and scope rulings

An HTSUS classification alone will not tell you whether your product sits inside an active AD or CVD order. Scope language in the underlying order often describes merchandise by composition, dimension, or end use rather than by tariff heading, which means two products sharing the same HTS code can land on opposite sides of an order.

Start your research with these sources before you book a shipment:

• Federal Register notices for the specific order, which contain the exact scope description Commerce intends to enforce.
• Commerce’s instructions to CBP, which translate scope language into entry-level enforcement guidance.
• CBP’s AD/CVD case and rate search tools through ACE, referenced in CBP’s AD/CVD FAQ, which let you check active cases by product and country.
• ACCESS, Commerce’s public case record system, where you can pull filings, scope ruling requests, and prior rulings on similar products.

When the scope language is ambiguous for your specific product, file a formal scope ruling request with Commerce rather than guessing. Strong submissions include product specifications, photographs, bills of materials, and manufacturing process descriptions that distinguish your merchandise from the covered description.

Pro Tip: Request a scope ruling before your first shipment lands, not after CBP issues a rate advance, because a wrong classification found after the fact can trigger retrospective assessments going back to your entry date.

Getting the classification wrong carries real exposure. If CBP later determines your goods fell within scope, you face retrospective duty assessment on past entries, and reimbursement presumption rules can treat any supplier rebate as evidence that you absorbed dumped pricing rather than passing it through. Our guide to who pays duties under DDP versus DAP terms breaks down how that financial exposure shifts depending on your shipping terms.

Enforcement and evasion: EAPA investigations and your exposure

CBP’s Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) authority lets its Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate open an evasion investigation whenever it has reasonable suspicion that an importer is dodging an AD or CVD order, often through transshipment or misclassification. That standard is lower than a civil fraud finding, which means CBP can act on a tip or a pattern in trade data alone.

Once CBP initiates a case under its EAPA program, it can impose interim measures within 90 days, including:

• Live entry requirements, which remove the usual post-release filing window.
• Suspension of liquidation or entry holds on shipments tied to the named importer or exporter.
• Single-transaction bonds in place of, or in addition to, a continuous bond.
• CF-28 requests for information and cargo exams that slow release at the port.

CBP’s April 2026 notice on EAPA consolidated case 8250 shows what this looks like in practice: the agency imposed live entry, suspended liquidation, and adjusted bonding for multiple importers suspected of evading AD/CVD orders on cast iron soil pipe. Importers named in a consolidated case can see their entire import program disrupted even when only a portion of their shipments are in question.

The best defense is operational, not legal: keep supplier audits current, verify country-of-origin documentation on every shipment, and flag any supplier that routes goods through a third country before export.

Administrative reviews, sunset reviews, and changing duty rates

An AD or CVD order does not lock in one rate forever. Commerce conducts periodic administrative reviews that reset the final assessed duty on past entries, which can land above or below the cash deposit rate you already paid, and future deposit rates also change based on that review’s outcome.

Every order also faces a mandatory sunset review at least once every five years to decide whether dumping or injury would likely continue if the order were revoked. The USITC’s sunset review process typically completes expedited reviews within 150 days and full reviews within 360 days, with up to a 90-day extension available for complex cases. A 2026 USITC determination on non-oriented electrical steel illustrates how this works in practice, with the commission voting to continue an existing order after review rather than letting it expire.

For your planning calendar, track three things:

• Continuation means the order and its deposit obligations remain in force for another five-year cycle.
• Revocation ends future cash deposit requirements but does not erase liability on entries made while the order was active.
• Review participation lets you submit comments or data during an administrative or sunset review, which can influence your future deposit rate.

Building a compliance checklist that prevents retroactive exposure

A disciplined process before, during, and after shipment is the single best protection against an unexpected AD/CVD bill. Work through these steps in order rather than reacting case by case.

1. Verify classification and scope before booking freight: confirm your HTSUS code and cross-check it against active order scope language, not just the tariff schedule.
2. Collect supplier documentation: gather product specifications, photographs, and bills of materials that support your classification if CBP or Commerce later questions it.
3. Report case numbers correctly at entry: include the applicable AD/CVD case number on your entry summary and post the correct cash deposit or bond amount from day one.
4. File reimbursement certificates before liquidation: if your supplier is not absorbing the duty, document that clearly before your entries liquidate to avoid reimbursement presumption issues.
5. Preserve records the moment a case opens: retain shipping documents, invoices, and correspondence for any product line that becomes subject to a petition or investigation.
6. Engage trade counsel early: bring in counsel for scope ruling requests, administrative review participation, or any EAPA inquiry rather than responding to CBP alone.
7. Plan your bond strategy in advance: understand when CBP might require a single-transaction bond instead of your continuous bond, since this directly affects cash flow during an active case.
8. Hold contingency reserves: set aside working capital sized to cover a potential cash deposit increase or retrospective assessment on your highest-volume product line.

Pro Tip: Build your AD/CVD exposure review into your supplier onboarding checklist, not just your customs process, since most evasion risk originates upstream at the sourcing stage.

Where DDP shipping fits in your duty strategy

Managing AD/CVD exposure in-house means tracking case filings, calculating deposits, and coordinating with a customs broker across every shipment. Our all-inclusive DDP shipping service folds customs clearance, duty payment, and final-mile delivery into a single workflow, which reduces the coordination burden for sellers managing high shipment volume. For the legal determination of whether your product falls inside an order’s scope, or for an active EAPA or administrative review matter, that work still belongs with trade counsel. Keven has written our coverage of antidumping duty timelines and importer financial planning, including our guide on preparing for anti-dumping deposits.

Why 2026 enforcement activity should reset your priorities

Enforcement momentum in 2026, from new EAPA initiations to continued sunset orders, means more product categories carry active exposure than in prior years. Procurement and logistics teams should treat scope verification and deposit contingency planning as standing tasks, not one-time compliance checks.

FAQ

Are anti-dumping duties the same as tariffs?

No. A tariff is a general import tax applied broadly by product category or country, while an antidumping duty is a case-specific remedy that Commerce calculates for a particular product and country combination after finding that the goods are sold below fair value. Both are collected by CBP, but AD duties require a completed investigation and an active order before they apply.

What is the purpose of anti-dumping duties in the United States?

Antidumping duties offset the price advantage that foreign producers gain by selling goods in the United States below their home-market value, protecting domestic industries from that unfair pricing. The remedy exists under Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 and requires both a dumping finding from Commerce and an injury finding from the USITC.

Who pays the anti-dumping duty?

The importer of record pays the antidumping duty, typically as a cash deposit at the time of entry and then as a final assessed amount after liquidation. CBP’s AD/CVD FAQ confirms that importers may receive a refund or an additional bill depending on how the final rate compares to the deposit already paid.

What are the anti-dumping duties?

Antidumping duties are additional import charges that Commerce calculates for a specific product and country once it finds the goods are being sold in the United States below fair value. The rate, often called the dumping margin, varies by exporter and by case, and CBP collects it as a cash deposit until the entry liquidates at the final assessed rate.