The Commerce Department wrongly applied a seasonality finding to one company, rather than an entire industry, when it retroactively suspended liquidation for many companies at the preliminary stage of the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on pentafluoroethane (R-125) from China, A-Gas Americas said in a brief filed with the Commerce Department Oct. 19.
The Commerce Department's decision not to grant a constructed export price offset in an antidumping duty investigation based on the claim that mandatory respondent Interpipe Ukraine didn't separately report the selling functions and the level at which it performed those functions from each home market channel of distribution runs contrary to the law, Interpipe argued in an Oct. 21 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Interpipe also pushed back against Commerce's decision to deduct Section 232 duties from its U.S. price when calculating its dumping margin (Interpipe Ukraine LLC, et al. v. United States, CIT #21-00530).
The Commerce Department's decision to use the Turkish lira value of home market sales rather than the U.S. dollar in an antidumping duty review deviated from the agency's standard practice and distorted an exporter's AD duty rate, the exporter, Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi, said in an Oct. 20 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi A.S. v. United States, CIT #21-00527).
Korean steel company Hyundai Steel's port usage rights and sewerage fee reductions are not countervailable benefits, with both stemming from unique arrangements that were not government subsidies specific to Hyundai, the company said in an Oct. 21 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Hyundai Steel Company v. United States, CIT #21-00536).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 22 remanded in part and sustained in part the Commerce Department's final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on utility scale wind towers from Canada. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves sustained Commerce's decision to weight-average plate costs, use respondent Marmen's invoice dates as the date of sale, use reported sales of tower sections and not apply facts otherwise available. The judge remanded, however, Commerce's decision to reject Marmen's additional cost reconciliation information and use the average-to-transaction methodology when identifying masked dumping.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Oct. 21 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
Heat-treated aluminum sheet that is made from a proprietary alloy and otherwise meets all scope requirements is covered by antidumping and countervailing duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from China (A-570-073/C-570-074), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. The “core” layer in Valeo’s clad T-series aluminum sheet is unregistered with the Aluminum Association but can be considered 3-series alloy covered by the scope based on its magnesium content, the agency said.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Solar cell exporter Wuxi Tianran Photovoltaic Co. challenged the Commerce Department's application of adverse facts available relating to Tianran's benefits from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program in an Oct. 20 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Tianran was hit with a 19.28% countervailing duty rate in the 2019 administrative review on solar cells from China, based on its alleged use of the EBCP -- a contention that Tianran says is refuted by clear record evidence showing that Tianran's customers did not use the program (Wuxi Tianran Photovoltaic Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #21-00538). CIT has repeatedly struck down Commerce's reliance on AFA in regards to the EBCP in CVD reviews.
The Commerce Department's decision to pick Turkey over Mexico as a surrogate country in an antidumping duty investigation was not backed by sufficient evidence, importer List Industries argued in an Oct. 14 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Seeing as the Mexican surrogate company's data was more detailed and that the company was actually profitable, unlike the Turkish company's, Commerce should have gone with the Mexican surrogate company, List said.