D & L Supply Co. v. United States

19 Ct. Int'l Trade 698, 888 F. Supp. 1191, 19 C.I.T. 698, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1652, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 130
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedMay 15, 1995
DocketConsolidated Court No. 92-06-00424
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 698 (D & L Supply Co. 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.

Bluebook
D & L Supply Co. v. United States, 19 Ct. Int'l Trade 698, 888 F. Supp. 1191, 19 C.I.T. 698, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1652, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 130 (cit 1995).

Opinion

Opinion

Tsoucalas, Judge:

Plaintiff D & L Supply Company (“D & E’) challenges the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration’s (“Commerce”) redetermination on remand filed in this case, Iron Construction Castings From the People’s Republic of China, Final [699]*699Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, Slip Op. 93-245 {“Remand Results”). Specifically, D & L contests as unreasonable and an abuse of discretion Commerce’s use in this case of the rate from the preceding review of iron construction castings from the People’s Republic of China as best information available (“BIA”), notwithstanding that Commerce recalculated the margins in the preceding case.

Background

In D & L Supply Co. et al. v. United States, 17 CIT 1419, 841 F. Supp. 1312 (1993), the Court remanded this case for, inter alia, Commerce to determine whether the original rate from the preceding review of iron construction castings is still appropriate for use as BIA after Commerce had recalculated the dumping margin in the preceding case.

Commerce filed the Remand Results on June 6,1994. Oral argument was held on August 12, 1994.

Discussion

Commerce’s final results filed pursuant to a remand will be sustained unless that determination is “unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B) (1988). Substantial evidence is “relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229 (1938); Alhambra Foundry Co. v. United States, 12 CIT 343, 345, 685 F. Supp. 1252, 1255 (1988).

Pursuant to this Court’s remand, Commerce determined that the BIA provision of the antidumping statute, 19 U.S.C. § 1677e (1988), does not require Commerce to revise the BIA rate used in a review where that rate is subsequently recalculated upon Court order. Remand Results at 4. Thus, Commerce found that, although the 92.74 percent rate of the preceding review was subsequently changed on remand, it was not relevant to whether it remains the appropriate rate to rely upon as BIA for this review. Remand Results at 17. Accordingly, Commerce continues to rely upon the 92.74 percent rate from the 1989-90 review as BIA in this case. Remand Results at 21.

D & L argues that Commerce erred by failing to adjust the rate in the instant.case after the rate upon which it was based was changed on remand. D & L contends that Commerce’s position that 19 U.S.C. § 1677e(c) does not require revision of the BIA rate used in a review where that rate is subsequently modified as a result of ongoing proceedings effectively ousts this Court of jurisdiction in reviews where BIA is an issue. Moreover, D & L argues that Commerce’s refusal to revise its BIA rate alters the purpose of the BIA provision from an investigative tool to a punishment. Plaintiff D & L Supply Company’s Comments on the Commerce Department’s Redetermination in Iron Construction Castings From the People’s Republic of China/1990-91 (“Plaintiff’s Comments”) at 12-14.

[700]*700D & L interprets the Court’s remand instructions in D & L Supply Co., 17 CIT1419,841F. Supp. 1312, as requiring Commerce to revise the rate from the prior review and then reevaluate the use of the rate from the preceding review. Accordingly, D & L argues Commerce has not followed the Court’s remand order. Plaintiffs Comments at 5-8.

In addition, D & L claims that the rationale for not responding to a questionnaire because the responses would yield a dumping rate equal to or higher than BIA is not applicable here. D & L contends that the exporter in the instant case did not respond to the questionnaire because it had abandoned the United States market place and had no reason to comply. D & L claims that exporters do not know what margin will be applied because they do not know what methodology will be used for the calculations. D & L argues that, by determining that the BIA rate of 92.74 percent should not be adjusted in this case even though that rate was subsequently reduced to 31.05 percent in the prior review, Commerce adversely affects the U.S. importer, who had no control over the responses to the questionnaire, and not the Chinese exporter who did not respond to the questionnaire. Finally, D & L argues that it is inequitable to assign an 11.66 percent duty to MACHIMPEX Liaoning’s imports while assigning a 92.74 percent duty to Guangdong Metals & Minerals Import & Export Corporation (“Guangdong Minmetals”). Alternatively, D & L argues the appropriate rate under Commerce’s reasoning would be 45.92 percent, the only final rate at the time the exporters chose not to respond. Plaintiffs Comments at 2-4, 10-12.

Commerce urges that its adherence to the 92.74 percent rate originally applied is appropriate as BIA because it upholds the purposes for the BIA rule and overcomes administrative difficulties by barring changes in one period from affecting subsequent review periods. Defendant’s Rebuttal Comments in Support of Remand Results (“Commerce’s Rebuttal”) at 4-5.

Commerce defends its redetermination decision by arguing that the exporter was aware that the BIA rate from the final results of the 1989-90 review would be used in this case if those final results were issued before the final results in the instant case. Commerce adds that the exporter decided it preferred to refuse to answer the questionnaire and be assigned the highest prior margin as BIA. Moreover, Commerce argues there is no evidence that the amended rate for the 1989-90 review period more accurately reflects the exporter’s pricing practices than the original BIA rate from that review. Commerce asserts that the rate determined in the instant case is not incorrect but, as the name suggests, based upon the best information available at the time the determination was made. Commerce’s Rebuttal at 5-8.

Commerce refutes D & L’s claim that Commerce’s position in this case ousts this Court of jurisdiction where BIA is an issue and argues that the Court’s role in a BIA case is to determine whether the exporter failed to respond to an information request and if so, whether the rate determined by Commerce is supported by the administrative record. [701]*701Furthermore, Commerce contends it used standard methodology to determine the dumping margin, it could not have considered rates that were determined subsequently, and it need not have considered the rates assessed to MACHIMPEX, an exporter that did not receive adequate notice of review. Commerce argues that D &L’s argument that the rate is suspect because it and not the non-responding exporter will have to pay the import duties is without merit. Commerce’s Rebuttal at 7-9.

Finally, Commerce argues that it has adhered to the decision of this Court to “deem whether the rate from the preceding review is still appropriate for use as BIA,” D &L Supply,

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19 Ct. Int'l Trade 698, 888 F. Supp. 1191, 19 C.I.T. 698, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1652, 1995 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/d-l-supply-co-v-united-states-cit-1995.