Citing the complexity of the issues, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) has postponed the preliminary ruling in its countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules from China.

DOC had initially planned to issue a decision on March 28th, 2014, and instead the ruling will be made on June 2nd, 2014 and announced the following day. The CVD investigation is accompanied by an anti-dumping investigation into PV cells and modules from both China and Taiwan.

SolarWorld Industries Americas (Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S.) initiated both investigations on the last day of 2013, and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found evidence of injury to domestic industry in February 2014.

The preliminary ruling for the anti-dumping investigation is scheduled for June 12, 2014, however this could also be extended.

Investigation could expand scope of earlier tariffs

If U.S. trade authorities rule against China, this will extend the scope of earlier tariffs which only covered PV cells, and not modules made from cells produced in third-party nations. This limited scope of earlier investigations allowed Chinese PV makers to avoid tariffs by sourcing cells from Taiwan and other nations for modules bound for the U.S. market.

Thin-film PV is not covered by either investigation.

Source: solarserver