AD/CV Decisions at the CIT in the Third Quarter of 2009 (Part 2)

ITA Ordered to Reconsider Lack of Combo Rates for Many Chinese Wooden Bedroom Furniture Firms, Adverse China-Wide Rate for Another

For the final results of the first AD administrative review of wooden bedroom furniture from China, covering the period June 24, 2004 through December 31, 2005, the CIT granted the request of the domestic U.S. furniture producers, and the ITA's own voluntary remand request, and ordered the ITA reconsider its decision not to assign combination rates to many of the Chinese furniture exporters. The court upheld the agency's determination that Starcorp Furniture Co., Ltd., was uncooperative, but ordered the ITA to reconsider the adverse rate of 216.01% it gave that firm (based on a margin of a different company in a different review) and either explain how it relates to that company, or calculate an appropriate company-specific rate.¹

China-Wide Rate Requires Real Government Control of Manufacturer, Court Rules

In the AD administrative review of hand trucks and certain parts thereof from China for the period December 1, 2005 through November 30, 2006, the ITA assigned to Qingdao Taifa Group Co. Ltd. the China wide rate of 383.6%, because the firm concealed key production and U.S. sales data to try to avoid AD duties, and because the share sale documents purporting to show that the local government did not still own a majority stake were not registered (notarized by local authorities). The CIT remanded the case, stating that to use the China-wide rate, the ITA must complete a two-part separate rates test showing not only government ownership, but evidence of actual government control, or else calculate a separate rate.²

ITC Must Again Explain Need for Japan/UK Ball Bearing AD Order

Following the remand determination of the International Trade Commission's second five-year sunset review of AD duty orders covering ball bearings from Japan and the UK, the CIT issued a further remand requiring analysis of the effects of significant numbers of non-subject imports in the domestic market and of significant restructuring in the domestic industry. The ITC then determined anew that revocation of the AD duty orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of injury to the domestic industry. The CIT found the new determination to be unsupported by evidence and not in accordance with the law, and issued still another remand ordering the ITC to further examine the same issues.³

VAT, Indirect Costs are Focus of Ruling in Chinese Tires AD Investigation

In calculating normal value for Xuzhou Xugong Tyres Co., Ltd., in the AD investigation of certain off-the-road tires from China for the period October 1, 2006 through March 31, 2007, the ITA treated 15 items used in production as indirect materials, and excluded unrefunded value-added taxes for these items from cost totals. The CIT ruled that normal value calculation should indeed be net of taxes, but ordered the ITA to reconsider whether each of the 15 items at issue was a direct or indirect material cost. ⁴

Court Finds ITA Over-reliant on Margin Sampling in Chinese Honey Review

In the AD administrative review of honey from China for the period December 1, 2005 through November 30, 2006, the ITA narrowed the sample pool of producer/exporters whose prices would determine all other companies' margins, from 15 to four and then to two, one of which later withdrew. But the ITA refused to allow Zhejiang, one of the four original mandatory respondents, to submit its own data, and gave it a 104.88% AD rate, equal to $.98 per kilo, based on the sample rate. The CIT ordered the ITA to calculate an individual dumping margin for Zhejiang, ruling that "one is not a large number" of companies to review. ⁵

Goodwill Amortization Part of General Administrative Expenses, Court Rules

In the AD administrative review of granular polytetrafluoroethylene resin from Italy for the period August 1, 2004, through July 31, 2005, Solvay Solexis, Inc. /Solvay Solexis S.p.A., challenged the ITA's inclusion in the general administrative expense ratio of the amortization of goodwill resulting from a corporate acquisition, and its use of expense ratios pertaining to the corporate unit that produced subject merchandise, rather than those of the corporate parent. The CIT affirmed the agency's methods on both counts. ⁶

Court Lets Stand ITA's Surrogate Shrimp Price Data, for Now

Domestic producers challenged the ITA's use of certain published UN Food and Agriculture Organization data on Bangladeshi shrimp prices for the AD administrative review of frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam, covering the period July 16, 2004, through January 31, 2006, because the data omitted some prices and resulted in a zero rate for one Vietnamese company, among 16 respondents. The CIT denied the motion but suggested the domestic parties should continue to contest the issue in later administrative reviews.⁷

(See ITT's Online Archives or 11/09/09 news, 09110935, for Part I in this 3rd quarter series.)

¹Fujian Lianfu Forestry Co., Ltd. et al v. U.S. available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/Slip%20Op%2009-81.pdf

²Qingdao Taifa Group Co., Ltd. v. U.S. et al, dated August 11, 2009, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-83.pdf

³NSK Corporation et al v. U.S. and the Timken Company, dated August 31, 2009, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-91.pdf

⁴Bridgestone America, Inc. et al. v. U.S. et al. available at: http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-79.pdf

⁵Zhejiang Native Produce & Animal By-Products Import & Export Corp. v. U.S. et al, dated August 19, 2009, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-87.pdf

⁶Solvay Solexis S.p.A. and Solvay Solexis, Inc. v. U.S. et al, dated August 27, 2009, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-90.pdf

⁷Ad hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. U.S. et al, dated August 11, 2009, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op09/09-85.pdf