Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd. v. United States

2018 CIT 31
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedMarch 27, 2018
DocketConsol. 16-00157
StatusPublished

This text of 2018 CIT 31 (Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd. v. United States, 2018 CIT 31 (cit 2018).

Opinion

Slip Op. 18-31

UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

CHANGZHOU TRINA SOLAR ENERGY CO., LTD.,

Plaintiff, Before: Jane A. Restani, Judge

SOLARWORLD AMERICAS, INC., Consol. Court No. 16-00157 Consolidated Plaintiff,

.v. PUBLIC VERSION

UNITED STATES,

Defendant.

SOLARWORLD AMERICAS, INC., and CHANGZHOU TRINA SOLAR ENERGY CO., LTD.,

Defendant-Intervenors.

OPINION

[Commerce’s remand results in countervailing duty administrative review of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from the People’s Republic of China sustained.]

Dated: March 2018

Robert Gosselink, Jarrod Goldfeder, and Jonathan Freed, Trade Pacific, PLLC, of Washington, DC, for Plaintiff and Defendant-Intervenor Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd.

Timothy Brightbill and Usha Neelakantan, Wiley Rein, LLP, of Washington, DC, for Consolidated Plaintiff and Defendant-Intervenor SolarWorld Americas, Inc.

Justin Miller, International Trade Field Office, U.S. Department of Justice, of New York, NY, for defendant. Of counsel on the brief was Lydia Pardini, Office of Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, of Washington, DC. PUBLIC VERSION Court No. 16-00157 Page 2

Restani, Judge: Before the court are the U.S. Department of Commerce

(“Commerce”)’s Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand from Commerce’s

second administrative review of the countervailing duty order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic

cells, whether or not assembled into modules (“solar cells”) from the People’s Republic of China

(“PRC”). ECF No. 49 (confidential version) (“Remand Results”). See Crystalline Silicon

Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From the People’s Republic of

China: Final Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review; 2013, 81 Fed. Reg. 46,904

(Dep’t Commerce July 19, 2016) (“Final AR Results”). This court having previously remanded

the Final AR Results for Commerce to reassess its decision to average certain data sets in

calculating a benchmark for solar glass, Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co., Ltd. v. United

States, 255 F. Supp. 3d 1312 (CIT 2017) (“Changzhou”), SolarWorld Americas, Inc.

(“SolarWorld”) now contends that Commerce’s decision to continue averaging those data sets is

unsupported by substantial evidence or otherwise not in accordance with law. The court sustains

Commerce’s Remand Results for the reasons which follow.

BACKGROUND

The court presumes familiarity with the facts of the case as discussed in Changzhou, 255

F. Supp. 3d at 1314–16; however, the facts relevant to the Remand Results are summarized

below for ease of reference.

Commerce’s Final AR Results determined a countervailable subsidy rate of 19.20 percent

ad valorem for subject solar cells produced by both named respondents and other companies not

individually examined. Final AR Results, 81 Fed. Reg. at 46,905. Of this, 12.97 percent was

meant to countervail the provision of solar glass for less than adequate remuneration (“LTAR”). PUBLIC VERSION Court No. 16-00157 Page 3

Issues and Decision Memorandum for the Final Results of the Countervailing Duty

Administrative Review of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled

Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China; 2013, C-570-980, POR 01/01/2013-

12/31/2013, at 8 (Dep’t Commerce July 12, 2016) (“Final I&D Memo”). Pursuant to 19 U.S.C.

§ 1677e(a)(1), Commerce based part of its countervailability determination regarding the PRC’s

provision of solar glass on “facts otherwise available,” and employed a tier-two benchmark in

calculating respondent’s benefit from the program. Final I&D Memo at 18–20. See also 19

C.F.R. § 351.511(a)(2)(ii).

This tier-two benchmark was established by averaging data from Information Handling

Services Technology (“IHS”), submitted by respondent JA Solar, Crystalline Silicon

Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled into Modules from the People's Republic of

China: Benchmark Submission, C-570-980, POR 01/01/2013-12/31/2013, at Ex. 3A (Dep’t

Commerce Nov. 2, 2015) (“2014 IHS Report”), with data from the Global Trade Atlas (“GTA”),

submitted by petitioner SolarWorld, Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Products, Whether

or Not Assembled Into Modules, from the People's Republic of China: Submission of Factual

Information - Benchmark Data, C-570-980, POR 01/01/2013-12/31/2013, at Ex. 7 (Dep’t

Commerce Nov. 2, 2015) (“GTA Data”). Final I&D Memo at 22. In the decision below,

SolarWorld challenged Commerce’s decision to average both datasets for its Final AR Results,

contending that Commerce should have instead relied exclusively upon GTA data. Changzhou,

255 F. Supp. 3d at 1320. Although the court sustained the Final AR Results in other respects, it

remanded the results for Commerce to “reconsider its choice [to calculate its average using IHS

data,] and if it chooses to adhere to it explain why a data set that may include taxes, may not be PUBLIC VERSION Court No. 16-00157 Page 4

representative of the entire POR, and is only slightly more product specific, should be averaged

with a [GTA] data set that generally lacks cause for concern.” Id. at 1321.

On remand, Commerce recalculated its countervailing subsidy rate, increasing it to 24.66

percent ad valorem, with 18.43 percent meant to countervail the PRC’s provision of solar glass

for LTAR. Remand Results at 6. Commerce continued to average IHS and GTA data. Id. at 16.

The change in rate was the result of Commerce’s sua sponte adjustment of its calculation method

“to conform with [Commerce’s] standard monthly benchmark calculation methodology.” Id. at

5, 24. No party has challenged this aspect of Commerce’s recalculation, Consolidated Plaintiff

SolarWorld Americas, Inc.’s Comments on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Final Results of

Redetermination Pursuant to Remand, ECF No. 53, at 7 (confidential version) (“SolarWorld

Cmts.”), which appears to be a reasonable adjustment. 1 The only issue before the court is thus

1 Commerce stated that:

while the Department [of Commerce] used the monthly GTA data in its original benchmark calculation, we used that data to calculate a single average value for the entire POR (essentially converting the monthly data into an annual data point), averaged the resulting single value with the single IHS annual value, and then added monthly delivery charges. Thus, the original benchmark calculation eliminated the monthly variation in the GTA data, such that the variation among the calculated monthly benchmark values was solely the result of the monthly delivery charges. Such a calculation is inconsistent with the Department’s stated practice to calculate separate monthly averages when possible. Therefore, we recalculated the solar glass benchmark by calculating monthly averages of the GTA data, averaging the result for each month with the single IHS value for the year, and then adding monthly delivery charges. That is, we calculated a monthly average of the GTA data for January 2013, averaged that value with the single IHS value for 2013, and then added monthly delivery charges for January 2013 to reach a January 2013 benchmark; we repeated this calculation for each month of 2013. When calculated in this manner, the monthly benchmark values varied as a (continued . . . ) PUBLIC VERSION Court No. 16-00157 Page 5

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Related

Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. Ltd. v. United States
255 F. Supp. 3d 1312 (Court of International Trade, 2017)

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