May 08, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a preliminary decision in its antidumping investigation of imports of lightweight thermal paper from China and Germany. The Department affirmed that certain Chinese producers and exporters of lightweight thermal paper sold the product in the United States at prices below fair value and imposed preliminary duties of 132.95% on those products. One of the Chinese producers will receive a duty of 2.3%. The Department also affirmed the certain German producers and exporters of lightweight thermal paper sold that product in the U.S. at prices below fair value and imposed preliminary duties on those imports 6.49%. "We appreciate the consideration and review given to our cases so far by the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission," said Mark Richards, Appleton's CEO. "We are encouraged by today's Commerce Department preliminary rulings because these help level the playing field on which to compete. We trust that the ongoing reviews and audits of market data by these agencies will confirm our assertions of unfair market conditions and that their final decisions will address those inequities." The Commerce Department is currently scheduled to make final determinations on or around July 21 concerning imposing countervailing duties on imports of lightweight thermal paper from China and imposing antidumping duties on imports of lightweight thermal paper from China and Germany, though this date could be extended until approximately September 18. The U.S. International Trade Commission will issue its final decision approximately 45 days after the Commerce Department decisions.