Byrd Amendment

This article is about the 2000 amendment by Sen. Robert Byrd. For the 1971 amendment by Sen. Harry F. Byrd, see Byrd Amendment (1971).

The Byrd Amendment is also known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA). The act is American legislation closely associated with its chief sponsor, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. The act changed the disposition of funds raised from duties on imports that the US government has determined to be subsidized or otherwise unfairly priced. Prior to the act, those funds were incorporated into the US budget. The Act specifies that the funds be distributed to the US companies that file pricing complaints. In short, this meant that non-US firms which sell below cost price in the US can be fined, and the money given to the US companies who made the complaint in the first place. The act has since been repealed.

World response

The European Commission and seven other countries — Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico — filed a formal protest with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The European Commission claimed that since 2000, US companies had received $1 billion in anti-dumping fees redistributed to them under the Byrd Amendment. The WTO eventually ruled the Byrd Amendment wholly illegal in 2002. It said that the European Union (EU) and the other countries could introduce measures which penalize the US for up to 72% of the monies raised and distributed through the Byrd Amendment.

On April 4, 2005, now with the permission of the WTO, the EU announced plans to implement limited sanctions on a selection of US goods, charging a 15% levy on U.S. paper, farm goods, textiles and machinery from May 1, 2005. This was in light of the continuing failure of the United States to bring its legislation in conformity with its international obligations. Also, on May 1, Canada imposed a 15% surtax sanction on US imports of cigarettes, oysters and live swine. On September 1, 2005, the Japanese government introduced 15% retaliatory duties on U.S. steel imports.

Repeal

For years, U.S. President George W. Bush called for the Act's repeal, however with little progress. Eventually, after growing pressure on multiple fronts, the United States Congress in December 2005 and January 2006 repealed the amendment. However, the act's provisions stayed in place until October 1, 2007 and money continued to be redirected to companies during this time.

External links

• A brief history of the bill
• BBC report that EU may fight against the bill
• BBC report on the WTO ruling
• BBC report on the proposed European sanctions on US goods
• Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada - Canada authorized to sanction the United States for Byrd Amendment
• World Trade Organisation dispute page for DS217, the CDSOA