November 14, 2025
MEMORANDUM TO: The Record
FROM: Christopher Abbott
Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Policy and Negotiations,
performing the non-exclusive functions and duties
of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement & Compliance
SUBJECT: Deadlines Affected by the Shutdown of the Federal Government
As a result of a shutdown of the Federal Government, the Department of Commerce was closed
on October 1, 2025, and resumed operations on November 13, 2025. After careful consideration,
Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, has determined that any delay
and confusion caused by the closure of the Federal Government will best be minimized by
uniformly tolling all Enforcement and Compliance deadlines for the effective duration of the
recent closure and sufficient time to resume normal operations (i.e., 47 days), 1 with the exception
of submissions due during the shutdown and requests for administrative reviews of suspension
agreements and antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders, as further
discussed below.
The Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341 et seq., makes it illegal to operate a government
agency absent budgetary authority from Congress. Accordingly, it was impossible for
Enforcement and Compliance to operate during the shutdown. It was also impossible for
Enforcement and Compliance to accelerate its proceedings by the number of days on which the
agency was closed -- we simply lack the resources. Enforcement and Compliance also was not
able to consider requests for extensions of any deadlines during the shutdown.
With regard to pending submissions due during the government shutdown, on October 1, 2025,
Enforcement and Compliance placed the following notification to the public on ACCESS:
“For all pending submissions, please submit them by the current due date. If you need
additional time, you may have an extension of 10 days for questionnaire responses,
without submitting a request for an extension of the deadline. For questionnaire
1 The shutdown began October 1, 2025, and Enforcement and Compliance resumed operations November 13, 2025.
Therefore, Enforcement and Compliance was closed for 43 calendar days. In addition, September 30, 2025,
involved considerable focus on preparation for the potential for a shutdown. Moreover, beginning November 13,
2025, Enforcement and Compliance is focusing largely on the full resumption of operations by Monday, November
17, 2025. Tolling deadlines by 47 days is also consistent with the extension given on submissions due during the
shutdown. Submissions due during the shutdown were extended by two business days from the government
reopening, i.e., November 17, 2025.
responses that are due before the government re-opens, if there are questions where you
require clarification, please submit answers to all other questions according to the
timeline above and separately submit clarification questions by the same deadlines. For
all other submissions, you may have an extension of 10 days, without submitting a
request for an extension of the deadline, and if the government continues to be closed
when your submission is due (including the extension), please submit your response
within two business days of the government reopening. The schedule for the submission
of rebuttal case briefs will be set by the case team after the government re-opens. For any
additional extensions beyond this guidance, please contact the case team once the
government re-opens. The submission of factual information to rebut, clarify, or correct
factual information contained in questionnaire responses, in accordance with 19 CFR
351.301(c)(v), will activate after the questionnaire response is available in ACCESS after
the government reopens.”
Thus, for all submissions that were pending during the shutdown, please follow the above
guidance. As noted above, if the government continued be closed when your submission was
due, that response is due within two days of the government reopening. Because ACCESS was
temporarily disabled on Thursday, November 13, we are providing one additional business day
to submit responses that were due during the shutdown. Accordingly, submissions that were due
during the shutdown are due on Monday, November 17, 2025, which is 47 days from the date the
government shutdown began.
For all other deadlines, Enforcement and Compliance is tolling such deadlines for the effective
duration of the recent Federal Government shutdown (i.e., 47 days, which includes the number of
days shut down, as well as the days for the shutdown preparation and resumption of operations).
With the exception of court-ordered redeterminations and the deadlines specified above, this
determination applies to every proceeding before Enforcement and Compliance as of the date of
this memorandum, including proceedings relating to the U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board and
any deadlines for submitting comments not connected with a specific proceeding (e.g., requests
for comments on proposed changes in methodology). It includes deadlines for actions by
Enforcement and Compliance (such as preliminary and final determinations in investigations and
administrative reviews in AD/CVD proceedings). If the new deadline falls on a weekend or a
Federal holiday, in accordance with our practice, the deadline will be moved to the next business
day.
Finally, for AD and CVD orders and suspension agreements with October anniversary months,
all requests for administrative reviews are due by November 17, 2025. For AD and CVD orders
and suspension agreements with November anniversary months, all requests for administrative
reviews will now be due by December 31, 2025. Parties that have already submitted a request
for review for proceedings with a November anniversary month do not need to resubmit the
request. Because normal publication of the notification of opportunity to request a review for
proceedings with a November anniversary would have published during the partial shutdown,
Enforcement and Compliance will issue a combined opportunity notice with regard to requesting
administrative reviews of antidumping and countervailing duty orders and suspension
agreements with November and December anniversary months. To ensure alignment of the
opportunity notice with the last day of the anniversary month, for purposes of establishing future
deadlines, the last day of the anniversary month for November cases is hereby tolled to
December 31, 2025.
Interested parties should contact the Enforcement and Compliance staff assigned to a specific
proceeding if there are further questions.