Commerce Finds Accent Chests Not Covered by Wooden Bedroom Furniture Duties
Accent chests imported by Jimco Lamp & Manufacturing are not subject to antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. Applying its four-part Ethan Allen test, the agency found Jimco’s chests are not intended for bedroom use.
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Under the court-sustained Ethan Allen test, Commerce looks at whether the chest is part of a bedroom or non-bedroom set of furniture; whether the dimensions are appropriate for bedroom use, such as holding clothes; whether there are any decorative characteristics that indicate non-bedroom use; and any other evidence the chest was intended and designed as bedroom or non-bedroom furniture.
On the first criterion, Commerce found that, though Jimco’s chests are sold as parts of groups of furniture, none of the groups of furniture “comprise the basic furniture pieces necessary for one room,” it said. All the other pieces of furniture in each group, which include small tables, accent chests and benches, are accent pieces of furniture, Commerce said. Though part of a group of furniture, the agency said, the chests cannot be considered part of either a bedroom or a non-bedroom furniture “set.”
And the types of furniture that form each group indicate non-bedroom use, Commerce said. “The pieces of furniture at issue coordinate with either benches, which are specifically excluded from the scope of the Order, tables, which are also specifically excluded from the scope of the Order (cocktail, end, and occasional tables are excluded from the scope but night tables are not excluded from the scope), and an accent chest with one drawer and four baskets,” the agency said.
Commerce also found that the chests’ drawers have limited storage space, and are not suitable for holding large amounts of clothes. “The total volume of the largest chest at issue is 5.45 cubic feet while chests in suites of bedroom furniture depicted in the Petition range from 11.7 cubic feet to 21.4 cubic feet,” Commerce said.
The chests are also finished on all sides, including the back, which is atypical for bedroom furniture, Commerce said.
Finally, the chests are mostly not advertised as for bedroom use, with the exception being Walmart marketing materials that show the chests as appropriate for storing clothing in a bedroom. But that contrasts with the actual dimensions of the furniture, Commerce said. “Although purchasers may be able to place certain articles of clothing in the drawers of the furniture pieces at issue, we do not find that the furniture pieces have adequate drawer sizes to serve as chests or dressers that could be used to store all of the types of clothing typically stored in a bedroom.”