The Commerce Department properly found that Indian exporter Uttam Galva failed to report an affiliated cross-owned company in a countervailing duty proceeding, warranting the use of adverse facts available and a 588.43% CVD rate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a May 5 opinion. Judges Sharon Prost, Richard Taranto and Raymond Chen said the exporter didn't show that the affiliated company's financial statement could rebut the inclusion of 20 subsidy programs supposedly given to it, permitting the subsidies' inclusion in Uttam Galva's rate.
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, namely Chief Judge Kimberly Moore, expressed doubt over exporter Shanxi Hairui Trade Co.'s argument that the Commerce Department should have excluded an adverse facts available rate when calculating the all-others rate in the relevant administrative review. Moore said at a May 3 oral argument that she thought Commerce articulated its decision on "sound, clear, rational bases" especially given the "gamesmanship" going on the sampling process (Shanxi Hairui Trade Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2067).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a May 4 errata order corrected three small errors in an opinion it issued April 14. The order changed the letter or number for three of the opinion's headings. "A. Mootness" was changed to "B. Mootness," "A. The Merits" was changed to "C. The Merits" and "II. Claims as to the Final Dumping Determination" was changed to "III. Claims as to the Final Dumping Determination" (Confederacion de Asociaciones Agricolas del Estado de Sinaloa v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #20-2232).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 5 on AD/CVD proceedings:
A third of the Senate's Democratic caucus asked President Joe Biden to expedite an investigation into antidumping duty and countervailing duty circumvention by solar panel manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, if they use Chinese components. The letter, made public May 3, was led by Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who made the same arguments when Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo appeared before the Commerce Committee.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade in a May 4 confidential order sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case over the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. In a letter on the opinion, Judge Richard Eaton said that he hopes to release the public version "in the near future" and that litigants should submit their reviews of the opinion to check for business confidential information by May 11. In the case, Commerce stuck by its decision to hit affiliated antidumping respondents Ghigi 1870 and Pasta Zara with an adverse inference over their U.S. payment dates (see 2202280052). However, the agency dropped the adverse inference on the U.S. sales for which Commerce verified the correct date. The result is a weighted-average dumping margin of 91.74% for Ghigi/Zara (Ghigi 1870 S.P.A. v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-00023).
8th Amendment AD/CVD Challenge Should Be Tossed for Lack of Jurisdiction, Proposed Intervenor Argues
The Court of International Trade should toss steel importer Rimco's challenge to the antidumping and countervailing duties it paid for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, proposed defendant-intervenor Accuride argued in a May 4 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The case should be dismissed because CIT isn't the proper jurisdiction for the importer's challenge to the Commerce Department's decisions, the company argued (Rimco v. United States, CIT #21-00537).
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit locked in a 588.43% countervailing duty rate for Indian corrosion-resistant steel product exporter Uttam Galva in a May 5 opinion. Judges Sharon Prost, Richard Taranto and Raymond Chen found that Uttam Galva failed to disclose its affiliation with Lloyds Steel Industries Ltd., warranting adverse facts available. The judges also said the exporter didn't show that LSIL's financial statement could rebut the inclusion of 20 subsidy programs supposedly given to LSIL, permitting the subsidies' inclusion in Uttam Galva's rate.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 4 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):