Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committe v. United States

992 F. Supp. 2d 1285, 2014 CIT 55, 36 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 346, 2014 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 74
United States Court of International Trade·Decided May 20, 2014·No. 10-00275 11-00335·Published·Cited by 38 cases

Opinion

OPINION

POGUE, Chief Judge:

This opinion addresses litigation arising out of the fourth and fifth administrative *1288 reviews of an antidumping duty order covering certain warmwater shrimp from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”). During the subsequent sixth administrative review of this order, Commerce found that respondent Hilltop International (“Hilltop”) had made material misrepresentations regarding its affiliations and corporate structure throughout the entire history of the order. 1 At the time of this finding, liquidation of entries covered by the fourth and fifth administrative reviews remained enjoined pending the final outcome of judicial review. 2 Concluding that the evidence of Hilltop’s misconduct was equally applicable to the fourth and fifth reviews, Commerce requested and was granted permission to reopen the records of those reviews in order to consider the effect of this new evidence on Hilltop’s calculated dumping margins. 3 Hilltop now challenges the results of Commerce’s redeterminations. 4

The court has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 516A(a)(2)(B)(iii) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(B)(iii) (2006), 5 and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (2006).

As explained below, Commerce’s reasonable determination not to rely on Hilltop’s representations, and to therefore treat Hilltop as part of the PRC-wide entity in the fourth review, is sustained on the same grounds as those supporting the affirmance of Commerce’s essentially identical determination in the (revisited) fifth review. 6 In addition, Commerce’s corroboration analysis, supporting the use of the 112.81 percent countrywide rate in the revised results of the fourth and fifth reviews, is also sustained.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Because the results of the fifth review were already being reconsidered pursuant to remand at the time that new evidence of Hilltop’s misconduct came to light during the sixth review, Commerce’s decision regarding the effect of this new evidence on *1289 Hilltop’s margin calculations came to court first on the (reopened) record of the fifth review. Reexamining this supplemented record, Commerce determined that Hilltop had misrepresented information regarding the scope of its affiliates and corporate structure, and moreover that the circumstances of these misrepresentations — in particular Hilltop’s failure to provide a persuasive explanation for the material errors, as well as its refusal to answer Commerce’s follow-up questions regarding potential as-yet undisclosed affiliates — were such that Hilltop’s remaining representations regarding corporate ownership and control were not reliable. 7 Because Commerce had initially granted Hilltop separate rate status based solely on these no longer reliable representations, it accordingly determined that Hilltop had failed to submit reliable evidence to rebut the presumption of government control attaching to all exporters covered by this antidumping duty order. 8 Commerce consequently assigned to Hilltop the 112.81 percent countrywide rate, which was derived from the petition to initiate these proceedings (the “Petition”) and last corroborated during Commerce’s initial investigation into unfair pricing (the less than fair value or “LTFV” investigation). 9

Commerce’s unreliability determination and decision in the fifth review to assign the PRC-wide rate to Hilltop were affirmed on judicial review. 10 However, Commerce’s (re-determined) results of the fifth review were remanded for reconsideration of the corroboration analysis Commerce used to satisfy itself that the countrywide rate derived from the Petition had probative value with respect to the likely pricing behavior of the non-cooperating PRC-wide entity. 11 Commerce then revisited its corroboration analysis, the results of which are one of the matters now before the court. 12

Meanwhile, the (revisited) results of the fourth review — wherein Commerce made essentially identical findings and conclusions with respect to Hilltop, based on identical evidence, as it did in the (revisited) fifth review — are also before the *1290 court. 13 In its redetermination of Hilltop’s antidumping duty assessment rate in the fourth review, Commerce also revisited its corroboration of the countrywide rate, which it assigned to Hilltop also in that revisited review. This corroboration analysis (as well as the countrywide rate itself) is identical to that employed pursuant to remand of the results of the fifth review. 14 Hilltop now challenges Commerce’s unreliability determination and decision to assign to Hilltop the PRC-wide rate in the fourth review, as well as Commerce’s corroboration analysis for the countrywide rate in both the (revisited) fourth and fifth reviews. 15

STANDARD OF REVIEW

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Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committe v. United States, 992 F. Supp. 2d 1285, 2014 CIT 55, 36 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 346, 2014 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 74 (cit 2014).

992 F. Supp. 2d 1285 (Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committe v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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