China Solar Cells: Solar-Powered Phone and Tablet Charger Subject to AD/CV Duties
A partially solar-powered battery imported by Batteries Plus that is used to charge consumer electronics is included under the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on silicon photovoltaic cells from China (A-570-979 / C-570-980), said the Commerce Department July 24 in a final scope ruling. The “hybrid solar tablet charger” only generates electricity, and doesn’t consume it, so it doesn’t fall under the scope exclusion for small solar cells integrated into consumer goods, the agency said.
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Batteries Plus’ hybrid solar tablet charger is used as a portable power conversion device and battery that can charge cellphones, MP3 players, e-readers, and tablets. The battery can be charged from a wall outlet or from solar cells measuring a total of 7200 mm2 that are integrated into the tablet.
Batteries Plus argued the product should be excluded from the scope as a solar cell “not exceeding 10,000 mm2 in surface area, that [is] permanently integrated into a consumer good whose function is other than power generation and that consumes the electricity generated by the integrated [solar cell]. The product’s principal use is power storage and conversion, not generation, the company said. It also consumes small amounts of electricity from an LED indicator light, Batteries Plus said.
But Commerce said the hybrid solar tablet charger is included under the scope because of the plain language of the order. The function of the device is to provide power to other devices, the agency said, and at least some of this power is generated from the solar cells. It has no other functions, Commerce said, and does not consume electricity. “The solar cells are not an ancillary feature of the device in the way that they would be in, for example, a typical handheld solar-power calculator wherein the generated power is used by the device to support its primary feature -- the running of calculations,” Commerce said. So the scope exclusion for consumer goods with small solar cells doesn’t apply, and the hybrid solar tablet charger is subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, it said.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of this scope ruling.