Office of the United States Trade Representative October 9, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On January 23, 2018, the President imposed a safeguard measure on imports of certain solar products pursuant to a section 201 investigation. On February 14, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative established procedures for interested persons to request product- specific exclusions from application of the safeguard measure. On June 13, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative published a notice granting certain requests for exclusions and excluding the products at issue from the safeguard measure's application. In particular, the U.S. Trade Representative excluded bifacial solar panels consisting only of bifacial solar cells. Since publication of that notice, the U.S. Trade Representative has evaluated this exclusion further and, after consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce and Energy, determined it will undermine the objectives of the safeguard measure. Accordingly, the U.S. Trade Representative has modified the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) to withdraw the exclusion of bifacial solar panels from application of the safeguard measure. The U.S. Trade Representative also has modified the HTSUS to make certain technical changes in connection with the safeguard measure.