AK Steel Corp. v. United States

203 F.3d 1330, 21 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1929, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2670, 2000 WL 202072
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedFebruary 23, 2000
DocketNo. 99-1296
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 203 F.3d 1330 (AK Steel Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AK Steel Corp. v. United States, 203 F.3d 1330, 21 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1929, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2670, 2000 WL 202072 (Fed. Cir. 2000).

Opinion

MICHEL, Circuit Judge.

AK Steel Corporation, Inland Steel Industries, Inc., Bethlehem Steel Corporation, LTV Steel Company, Inc., National Steel Corporation, and U.S. Steel Group (collectively “domestic producers” or “appellants”) appeal the judgment of the United States Court of International Trade in this anti-dumping duties case. The court upheld the International Trade Administration, United States Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) decision: (1) using a three-part test adopted informally in 1987 to determine whether certain sales to U.S. buyers of Korean steel by U.S. affiliates of the Korean producers 1 are properly classified as Export Price (“EP”) sales rather than Constructed Export Price (“CEP”) sales, and (2) declining to apply the “fair-value” and “major-input” provisions of 19 U.S.C. §§ 1677b(f)(2)-(3) (1994) to transfers among affiliated steel producers in Korea that it had treated as one entity for purposes of the anti-dumping determination. As a consequence of these methods and their manner of application, the duty rates were minimal. The domestic producers therefore filed suit in the trial court challenging these methods as contrary to the anti-dumping statutes. See AK Steel Corp. v. United States, 34 F.Supp.2d 756 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1998). We hold that the three-part test employed by Commerce is contrary to the express [1333]*1333terms defining EP and CEP .in the statute as amended in 1994 and therefore reverse-in-part and remand for a redetermination of the anti-dumping duties. As to the fair-value and major-input provisions, however, we hold that Commerce’s decision not to apply those provisions to the transactions was reasonable and within its discretion, and therefore we affirm-in-part.

BACKGROUND

In 1993 Commerce issued an order imposing anti-dumping duties on certain steel products from Korea. See Certain Cold Boiled Steel Flat Products from Korea, 58 Fed.Reg. 44,159 (Dept. of Commerce 1993) (hereinafter “Certain Steel Products from Korea ”). In August of 1995 both the domestic producers and the Korean producers requested an administrative review of that anti-dumping duty order. In its second administrative review of the anti-dumping duty order, Commerce classified all of the sales of the subject merchandise at issue in this appeal2 as EP sales rather than CEP sales pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §§ 1677a(a)-(b) (1994). See Certain Cold-Rolled and Corrosion-Resistant Carbon Steel Flat Products from Korea, 62 Fed. Reg. 18,404, 18,434 (Dept, of Commerce 1997) (hereinafter “Final Results ”). In addition, because Commerce had collapsed POSCO and its affiliates POCOS.and.PSI for purposes of assigning dumping margins, it opted not to apply the so-called “fair-value” and “major-input” provisions to transactions between those companies. Id. at 18,430.

I.

In calculating dumping margins, Commerce compares the “U.S. Price” to the “normal value” of the subject merchandise, imposing anti-dumping duties if, and to the extent, the former is lower than the latter. The U.S. Price is calculated using either the EP or CEP methodology. In general, Commerce uses the EP methodology for the U.S. Price when the foreign producer or exporter sells directly to an unrelated purchaser located in the United States. The CEP methodology is used when the foreign producer’s or exporter’s steel is sold to an unaffiliated' U.S. buyer by an affiliated company located in the United States. If the CEP methodology is used, additional deductions are taken from the sales price to arrive at the U.S. Price.3 The statute defines EP and CEP as follows:

(a) Export Price
The term “export price” means the price at which the subject merchandise is first sold (or agreed to be sold) before the date of importation by the producer or exporter of the subject merchandise outside of the United States to an unaffiliated purchaser in the United States or to an unaffiliated purchaser for exportation to the United States....
(b) Constructed Export Price
The term “constructed export price” means the price at which the subject merchandise is first sold (or agreed to be sold) in the United States before or after the date of importation by or for the account of the producer or exporter of such merchandise or by a seller affiliated with the producer or exporter, to a purchaser not affiliated with the producer or exporter....

[1334]*133419 U.S.C. §§ 1677a(a) — (b).4

For the sales of steel produced by each of the appellees, Commerce calculated the U.S. Price using the EP methodology. In determining whether to classify the sales as EP or CEP, Commerce applied a three-part test it developed during a remand of a 1987 case, PQ Corp. v. United States, 652 F.Supp. 724, 733-35 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1987) (the “PQ Test”). Representing an interpretation of the above statute, the test has been applied when sales are made prior to importation to an unaffiliated U.S. purchaser by a foreign manufacturer’s affiliated entity in the United States, as in the case of the sales at issue here. Using the PQ Test, Commerce classifies sales made by U.S. affiliates as EP sales if the following criteria are met:

(1) the subject merchandise was shipped directly from the manufacturer to the unrelated buyer, without being introduced into the inventory of the related shipping agent;

(2) direct shipment from the manufacturer to the unrelated buyer was the customary channel for sales of this merchandise between the parties involved;

(3) the related selling agent in the United States acted only as a processor of sales-related documentation and a communication link with the unrelated U.S. buyer.

See, e.g., Certain Stainless Steel Wire Rods from France, Final Determination of Sales at Less than Fair Value, 58 Fed. Reg. 68,865, 68,868-69 (1993).

All of the sales at issue in the present case were “back-to-back” sales. That is: the Korean producer sold the steel to an affiliated Korean exporter; the exporter sold it to a U.S. affiliate; and finally, the U.S. affiliate sold it to the unaffiliated U.S. purchaser. In most cases, however, the steel was shipped directly to the unaffiliated purchaser without entering the inventory of the U.S. affiliate. In the second administrative review, whether the sales of steel manufactured by the Korean producers satisfied the third prong of the test was one of the principal factual issues in dispute. In classifying the sales at issue, Commerce rejected the domestic producers’ argument that the activities of the Korean producers’ U.S. affiliates failed the third prong of the test because they “exceeded] those of a mere communications link or processor of documents.” Final Results, 62 Fed.Reg. at 18,432.

II.

Commerce “collapsed” POSCO and its affiliates POCOS and PSI into one entity for purposes of the anti-dumping analysis and then levied a single anti-dumping duty on the entity.

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Bluebook (online)
203 F.3d 1330, 21 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1929, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 2670, 2000 WL 202072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ak-steel-corp-v-united-states-cafc-2000.