Samling Group, one of the three mandatory companies in the Department of Commerce's antidumping investigation of Chinese engineered hardwood flooring, has filed for a review by the DOC for alleged clerical errors. Samling received a preliminary antidumping rate of 10.88 percent last month. The other two mandatory companies received a preliminary rate of zero.

"Samling is the only one of the three mandatories not assigned a zero rate and they believe the correction will give them the third zero," said Jonathan Train, president of the Alliance for Free Choice and Jobs in Flooring (AFCJF). "If so, that would mean that none of the mandatories were found to be dumping in the preliminary review."

"If Samling goes to zero, Commerce then must consider the rate for the over 70 separate rate respondents who currently have the same duty level as Samling," he added. "It is unpredictable what their decision will be. Rates could go higher or they could go lower."

"Rates can constantly change because of annual audits and reviews," Train added. "And of course the stinger is retroactive liability, which means an importer may not learn the actual rate for a container of imports for over two and a half to up to even 5 years after it has been imported."