Univar Agrees To Pay $$62.5Mln For Trying To Dodge US Antidumping Duties - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2019) The Univar company has agreed to pay more than $62 million to settle claims that it evaded a 329 percent dumping duty by importing saccharin sweetener indirectly through Taiwan that originally came from China, the US Department of Justice said in a news release on Tuesday.

"Univar USA... has agreed to pay the United States $62.5 million to settle allegations under the customs penalty statute that it was grossly negligent or negligent when it imported 36 shipments of transshipped saccharin between 2007 and 2012," the release said.

The Justice Department explained the saccharin was produced in China and then transshipped via Taiwan in order not to pay a 329 percent antidumping duty imposed on direct saccharin imports from the mainland that would have amounted to $36 million.

"Transshipment of merchandise through third countries to evade antidumping duties undermines the integrity of our trade laws and puts domestic manufacturers at risk from unfairly traded merchandise," Assistant US Attorney General Jody Hunt said in the release.

The settlement resolved a lawsuit brought in the US Court of International Trade seeking recovery of unpaid antidumping duties and penalties that original came to $84 million plus interest, the release noted.