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Law360 (March 25, 2020, 4:42 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that it is easing rules that require lawyers to serve sensitive documents in person during trade remedy investigations as part of its effort to stem the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Even though Commerce allows attorneys to electronically file documents containing business proprietary information to its online docket system, known as ACCESS, it also requires those documents to be served to opposing counsel in person. With the highly infectious COVID-19 continuing to spread, the agency has opted to relax most of its in-person service requirements.
In a brief Federal Register notice, Commerce's International Trade Administration said the goal of its rule change was to "promote public health and slow the spread of COVID-19," adding that in-person document service "poses a risk to the personnel tasked with serving or accepting service by hand or mail, as well as those around them."
Under the new policy, ITA will consider business proprietary information documents to have been "served" to the opposing party once they are filed online in ACCESS. The rule change will remain in effect until May 19 but may be extended again, the agency said.
Kelley Drye & Warren LLP partner Kathleen W. Cannon welcomed the Commerce rule change as a necessary accommodation, as much of the American workforce shifts to some scale of remote operation.
"We are all trying to continue to operate as best we can," Cannon told Law360. "This modification to the existing service rules is a major step toward allowing us to continue to handle filings and meet deadlines under current circumstances."
Although Commerce made it clear that its rule change was temporary as the country attempts to navigate the coronavirus storm, some attorneys are hoping for the change to eventually become the norm.
"We are very encouraged to see this new interim procedure," Mowry & Grimson PLLC partner Kristin H. Mowry said. "Within the trade bar we have seen great cooperation and are hopeful that we can learn from the experience in this interim time and ultimately make this type of service permanent."
Commerce's anti-dumping and countervailing duty procedures are subject to rafts of intersecting and overlapping deadlines and review periods, making any potential disruption a headache for attorneys.
The agency has been quick to grant extensions to attorneys who have seen their clients affected by the outbreak in recent weeks.
--Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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