The Commerce Department properly found that affiliated antidumping respondents Ghighi 1870 and Pasta Zara failed to cooperate to the best of their ability in reporting the U.S. payment dates for their pasta sales, the Court of International Trade ruled in a May 4 opinion made public May 13. The court previously ruled that Commerce had not properly supported its use of adverse facts available over the reporting of the U.S. payment dates. On remand, Commerce further explained its position that errors in Ghighi and Zara's reporting of their U.S. payment dates was due to "inattention and carelessness." Judge Richard Eaton agreed, upholding the remand.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 12 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The plain language of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China clearly excludes exporter China Custom Manufacturing's solar panel mount assemblies as extrusions fully assembled after importation, CCM along with importer Greentec Engineering argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Since there is no part of the plain language of the order that says a part of plaintiff-appellants' EcoFasten system cannot qualify for the finished merchandise exclusion, the solar panel mounts qualify for the exclusion, the brief said (China Custom Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1345).
The Commerce Department's remand results finding that a South Korean authority did not provide electricity below cost in a countervailing duty investigation does not properly apply an "adequate remuneration" standard, plaintiff-appellant Nucor Corp. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Filing its opening brief in its appeal, Nucor said that while Commerce does identify an adequate remuneration standard that could address the Federal Circuit's prior holding on the agency's sole reliance on a preferential rates analysis, the standard is not properly applied (POSCO v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1525).
The Commerce Department improperly, and knowingly, double-counted Chinese exporter Hangzhou Ailong Metal Products Co.'s dumping margin in the 2019-2020 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube, Ailong argued in a May 11 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Commerce admitted as much, recognizing that Malaysian surrogate value data used for square tube, just one factor of production, included further processed square tube and the raw square tube used by Ailong, the exporter said (Hangzhou Ailong Metal Products Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #22-00116).
The Commerce Department properly relied on a questionnaire instead of conducting on-site verification due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, the U.S. argued in a May 10 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The plaintiffs, led by Ellwood City Forge, didn't take issue with the verification methodology until litigation and the methodology is in line with Commerce's actions in prior crises, so the questionnaire should be sustained, Commerce argued (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00007).
The Commerce Department will again consider ending Russia’s market economy status in antidumping duty proceedings, according to a prepublication version of a notice released May 9. After determining Russia still warranted market economy treatment in October during an antidumping duty investigation on urea ammonium nitrate solutions, Commerce is now beginning a changed circumstances review based on actions Russia has taken since its invasion of Ukraine in February.
The Court of International Trade in a May 12 opinion sustained parts and remanded parts of the Commerce Department's final results in the 2017 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China. Judge Jane Restani upheld Commerce's specificity finding for the subsidization of electricity in China while sending back elements relating to the use of adverse facts available over China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, Commerce's land value benchmark and ocean freight benchmark. Restani said that if Commerce drops the EBCP from its subsidy calculation but doesn't appeal, as it has done in the past, it must explain why the court shouldn't provide some other form of relief such as an injunction on the continued inclusion of the program with no attempt at verification of non-use.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 10-11 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: