The Commerce Department properly found that importer Vandewater International Inc.'s steel branch outlets are covered by the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China, the Department of Justice told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 11 brief. Commerce's scope ruling is backed by a reading of each "(k)(2)" factor, including the physical characteristics of the steel branch outlets, the ultimate purchasers' expectations, the ultimate use of the product, and channels of trade in which the product is sold (Vandewater International Inc. v. U.S., CIT #18-00199).
The Court of International Trade on Jan .13 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on a countervailing duty investigation into carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. On remand from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Commerce held that the Korean Electricity Corp. didn't provide electricity for less than adequate remuneration and that prices on the Korean Power Exchange are not a countervailable benefit. The CVD petitioner, Nucor, questioned the use of a preferential-rate standard in the case, but the trade court held that Commerce also considered whether KEPCO recouped its costs in finding that electricity was not sold for LTAR.
The Court of International Trade granted the Commerce Department's voluntary bid to reconsider its decision to countervail the reduction for sewerage fees program in South Korea due to its "new understanding of Korean law," the trade court said in a Jan. 11 order. Commerce requested the do-over in a remand motion in which the plaintiff, Hyundai Steel, consented to the voluntary bid while the defendant-intervenor, Nucor Tubular, took no position on the matter (Hyundai Steel Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00304).
A recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that the Commerce Department can calculate a separate rate respondent's dumping margin by averaging an adverse facts available rate and a de minimis rate appeared in a similar case at the Court of International Trade. In a Jan. 11 notice of supplemental authority, defendant-intervenor Mid Continent Steel & Wire said the Federal Circuit opinion "once again affirmed" that the law allows Commerce to include rates based on AFA in the calculation of a separate rate if all the mandatory respondents have a zero, de minimis or AFA rate (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-03911).
Countervailing duty review respondent Uttam Galva Steels impeded the Commerce Department's countervailing duty administrative review by omitting information about its affiliation with Lloyds Steel Industry, defendant-appellees California Steel Industries and Steel Dynamics told the Federal Circuit in a Jan. 11 reply brief urging the appellate court to uphold the Court of International Trade's decision in the case (Uttam Galva Steels Limited v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2119).
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The Commerce Department incorrectly found Kumar Industries was affiliated with one of its home market buyers and one of its input suppliers in an antidumping duty review, and shouldn't have applied adverse facts available based on the lack of information provided by Kumar because the information wasn't requested, Kumar told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 10 complaint (Kumar Industries v. U.S., CIT #21-00622).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Jan. 11 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Japanese manufacturer Sigma Corporation will appeal a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California decision finding Sigma, along with other companies, guilty of False Claims Act violations related to not paying antidumping duties, Sigma told the district court in a Jan. 7 notice. The appeal will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Sigma is notifying the district court of its appeal despite the fact that the district court has not entered final judgment because the defendant wants to "preserve all appellate rights" (United States v. Vandewater International, C.D. Cal. #17-04393). In 2017, Island Industries accused Sigma and others of failing to pay antidumping duties on welded outlet imports from China while also alleging that they submitted false information to the U.S. relating to the applicability and amount of duties owed. Many of the other defendants, including Smith Cooper International Inc. and Allied Rubber and Gasket Co., were dismissed from the action (see 2103310033).