How to read an AD/CVD case number and find the order scope

TL;DR

• An AD/CVD case number is three parts: petition type (A for antidumping, C for countervailing), country prefix (a Commerce three-digit code, e.g., 570 for China, 489 for Türkiye), and a sequence number (Commerce assigns the next available value when a case initiates). The primary keyword brokers search for is the AD/CVD case number format, and the structure is consistent across every case.
• A-570-983 means antidumping + China + the 983rd China investigation in sequence: Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks. C-489-830 means countervailing + Türkiye + the 830th Türkiye case: Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar.
• The legal authority lives in 19 USC 1673 (Section 731, antidumping) and 19 USC 1671 (Section 701, countervailing), with procedures in 19 CFR Part 351. The country-code list itself comes from Commerce's public investigations table at enforcement.trade.gov.
• To find the order scope, pull the Federal Register notice titled "Antidumping Duty Order" or "Countervailing Duty Order" for the product and country, or open the case in the Tandom AD/CVD catalog at compliance.tandom.ai/adcvd-catalog for the same scope text plus current rates and case timeline.

Anatomy of a case number

Commerce case numbers follow the pattern X-NNN-NNN. The three positions encode petition type, country, and sequence. Once you can decode one, you can decode every one.

A few mechanical points worth memorizing. The country prefix is not an ISO code. Commerce uses its own list. China is 570 (not CN), Türkiye is 489 (not TR), and Korea is 580 (not KR). Brokers familiar with ISO from CBP filings sometimes confuse the two; they are unrelated systems with no overlap.

The sequence is not a year. You cannot tell when an order was issued from the case number alone. A-570-983 (sinks) was ordered in 2013; A-570-104 (alloy steel threaded rod) was ordered in 2020. Always pull the original Federal Register notice for effective dates.

Companion AD and CVD cases share a country and a related sequence. When a petitioner files both an antidumping and a countervailing petition on the same product (the typical pattern for steel, solar, and chemicals from China and Türkiye), the resulting orders appear as a pair. A-570-983 (AD on sinks) is paired with C-570-984 (CVD on sinks). A-489-829 (AD on Türkiye rebar) is paired with C-489-830 (CVD on Türkiye rebar). Both layers stack on entries; neither offsets the other.

Country code reference

The most useful Commerce country prefixes for current US imports, with a verified active case for each. Use the example case to test that you can pull the order in the Tandom catalog end to end. The full list lives at enforcement.trade.gov.

A few country codes brokers regularly run into. 570 (China) dominates the modern docket, with hundreds of active orders. Non-market economy methodology applies, so country-wide rates are the default unless the exporter has earned a separate rate. 552 (Vietnam) is also a non-market economy and shows up in shrimp, solar circumvention, plywood, and furniture cases. 489 (Türkiye) has been an active target for steel and rebar. Italy uses both 469 and 475 across the historical record; the active steel plate case A-475-834 uses the 475 prefix.

Find the order scope from a case number

The case number tells you the country and the petition type. The Federal Register order tells you what merchandise is actually covered. Three sources, in order of authority.

1. The original Federal Register order notice

Search federalregister.gov for the case number, the country name, and the product. The document you want is titled "Antidumping Duty Order" or "Countervailing Duty Order" for that product and country, typically published within weeks of the ITC final injury determination. The scope paragraph lives near the top under "Scope of the Order." The HTSUS list immediately follows, prefaced with the standard Commerce boilerplate that the written description is dispositive.

For older orders, search for "Continuation" notices, which are the five-year sunset reviews that re-state the scope and rates each cycle. The Continuation notice is often the easiest place to read the current scope language.

2. ITA ACCESS scope ruling search

ACCESS at access.trade.gov holds public versions of every scope ruling, administrative review record, and Commerce determination dating to August 2011. Register a free account, then search by case number. The rulings are listed chronologically. Older rulings (pre-August 2011) are at legacy.trade.gov.

ACCESS is authoritative but slow to navigate. A scope-ruling search returns a barcode-style list of filings; you have to download and read each PDF to find what you need.

3. CBP ACE AD/CVD search

Brokers with ACE access can pull the operational rate by case number from CBP's AD/CVD search facility. The CBP rate is the rate the entry filer applies at the moment of liquidation. It may lag the most recent Federal Register notice by days to weeks while the corresponding CSMS message issues. CBP's AD/CVD page at cbp.gov is the canonical operational reference.

Companion AD and CVD cases

When a petitioner files both an antidumping and a countervailing petition on the same product, Commerce opens parallel investigations and issues parallel orders. The case numbers share a country and follow each other in the sequence. Both orders apply to the same merchandise; neither offsets the other at entry.

Two patterns to notice. First, AD orders sometimes ship without a CVD companion (Japan and Korea steel products often run AD only). Second, the AD and CVD sequence numbers are not always adjacent: Commerce assigns them based on initiation timing, and if AD initiates first, the CVD number lands on the next available value, which may or may not be the next integer.

Worked example: decode A-570-983 and C-489-830

Two real cases, decoded segment by segment, with the Federal Register source and the Tandom catalog link for each.

A-570-983: Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks from China

• Petition type: A = antidumping, under 19 USC 1673 (Section 731 of the Tariff Act of 1930).
• Country prefix: 570 = People's Republic of China. Non-market economy (NME) methodology applies, which means a China-wide rate of 76.45% is the default unless the exporter has earned a separate rate.
• Sequence: 983rd Commerce AD/CVD investigation on China.
• Original order: Federal Register, April 11, 2013, FR Doc 2013-08649 (78 FR 21592), "Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks from the People's Republic of China: Amended Final Determination ... and Antidumping Duty Order."
• Continued (sunset): February 20, 2024, FR Doc 2024-03376, "Continuation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders."
• Companion CVD: C-570-984 (3.91% all-others rate).

C-489-830: Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from Türkiye

• Petition type: C = countervailing, under 19 USC 1671 (Section 701 of the Tariff Act of 1930).
• Country prefix: 489 = Türkiye. Market economy methodology applies, with company-specific rates for examined respondents and an all-others rate for the rest.
• Sequence: 830th Commerce AD/CVD investigation on Türkiye.
• Original order: Federal Register, July 14, 2017, FR Doc 2017-14802, "Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from the Republic of Turkey and Japan: Amended Final Affirmative Antidumping Duty Determination ... and Antidumping Duty Orders."
• Continued (sunset): April 13, 2026, FR Doc 2026-07109, "Continuation of Antidumping Duty Order and Countervailing Duty Order" (Türkiye and Mexico).
• Companion AD: A-489-829 (3.90% all-others rate).

The same lookup in the Tandom catalog

Each Tandom catalog page surfaces the same primary-source content in one screen. For A-570-983 the page shows the FR scope text, the 76.45% China-wide rate, the manufacturer rates tracked through every administrative review, the case event timeline (initiation, preliminary, final, ITC injury, continuation), and the source URLs. For C-489-830 the page shows the parallel CVD content. Both are direct links from the tables above.

Common pitfalls

Treating the country prefix as an ISO code

570 is China to Commerce; CN is China to CBP and ISO. Confusing the two leads to the wrong case lookup. The Commerce codes are listed at enforcement.trade.gov; ISO is at iso.org. They do not align.

Reading the sequence number as a year

The sequence number is just a counter. A-570-983 dates to 2013, A-570-104 to 2020. Pull the original Federal Register notice for the actual investigation and order dates.

Assuming AD-only or CVD-only

Most steel and chemical orders from China and Türkiye come in AD/CVD pairs. Always check whether a companion case exists. Filing on the AD case alone and missing the parallel CVD will underpay duty by the CVD rate.

Stopping at the HTSUS list in the order

The HTSUS list in an order is advisory; the scope description is dispositive. A product can fall out of scope despite an HTS match, and into scope despite an HTS mismatch. Read the scope paragraph carefully every time. See How to check AD/CVD exposure by HTS code for the full workflow.

Pulling a stale rate

The rate published in the original order is rarely the current deposit rate. Administrative reviews change rates annually for examined respondents. CBP's ACE AD/CVD search returns the operational rate; the most recent FR final results notice for the case is the underlying authority.

Mixing up Italy 469 and 475

Italy appears in the historical record under both 469 and 475. Active orders on Italian steel use the 475 prefix; older orders may still be referenced as 469. When in doubt, search the case number in the Tandom catalog or in ACCESS to confirm the exact prefix Commerce used.

Forgetting the four-segment third-country form

Most case numbers are three segments (X-NNN-NNN). Some third-country reviews and circumvention determinations append a fourth segment. Brokers see the three-segment form most of the time, but four-segment numbers do appear; do not assume the string is malformed.

Using the case number as the only filter

The case identifies the order. The applicable rate at entry depends on the manufacturer, the exporter, the entry date, and whether the exporter has earned a separate rate (in non-market-economy cases). The case number is the start of the analysis, not the end.

Glossary

Case number

The Commerce identifier for an AD or CVD proceeding. Format X-NNN-NNN where X is A (antidumping) or C (countervailing), NNN is the country prefix, and NNN is a sequence number.

Country prefix

Commerce's three-digit country code, e.g., 570 for China, 489 for Türkiye, 580 for Korea. Not an ISO code.

Companion case

The matched AD and CVD pair on the same product. A-570-983 and C-570-984 are companions on Drawn Stainless Steel Sinks from China. Both layers stack on entries.

Section 731 (19 USC 1673)

The statutory authority for antidumping duty orders. Commerce imposes AD duties when foreign merchandise sells in the US at less than fair value and ITC finds material injury.

Section 701 (19 USC 1671)

The statutory authority for countervailing duty orders. Commerce imposes CVD duties when a foreign government provides countervailable subsidies and ITC finds material injury.

Scope of the Order

The narrative paragraph in the Federal Register order describing covered merchandise. Legally controlling. The HTSUS list in the order is advisory.

ACCESS

ITA's electronic records system at access.trade.gov. Holds public versions of scope rulings, administrative review records, and Commerce determinations dating to August 2011.

Continuation

Federal Register notice issued after a five-year sunset review affirming an order remains in effect. Re-states the scope and rates.

CBP CSMS message

Cargo Systems Messaging Service operational instructions from CBP to brokers. CSMS messages tell brokers what to actually deposit at entry; they typically lag Federal Register publication by days to weeks.

Third-country case number

A four-segment case number identifying a circumvention or third-country review under an existing order. Less common than the standard three-segment form.

Sequence number

The third segment of a case number. Commerce assigns the next available value when an investigation initiates. Carries no other meaning; not a year code.

Non-market economy (NME)

Country whose economy is presumed not to operate on market principles. Includes China (570) and Vietnam (552), among others. Commerce uses different methodology to calculate dumping margins, and the country-wide rate is the default unless the exporter has earned a separate rate.

FAQ

High-intent questions brokers ask when decoding case numbers. Each answer is grounded in the Commerce records and Federal Register sources cited above.