Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corp. (30) v. United States Department of Commerce

201 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 26 Ct. Int'l Trade 494, 26 C.I.T. 494, 24 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1527, 2002 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedApril 30, 2002
DocketSlip Op. 02-42; Court 00-05-00240
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 201 F. Supp. 2d 1351 (Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corp. (30) v. United States Department of Commerce) 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
Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corp. (30) v. United States Department of Commerce, 201 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 26 Ct. Int'l Trade 494, 26 C.I.T. 494, 24 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1527, 2002 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42 (cit 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

EATON, Judge.

This matter is before the court on the motion of Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corporation 30 (“Huaiyin 30”), Worldwide Link, Inc., Captain Charlie Seafood Wholesale Co., USA, Boston Seafood Processors, Inc., GMRI, Inc., (“GMRI/Red Lobster”) and Ocean Duke Corporation 1 (collectively “Plaintiffs”) for judgment upon the agency record pursuant to USCIT R. 56.2. Plaintiffs challenge certain aspects of the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order covering imports of freshwater crawfish tail meat from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) for the period of March 26, 1997, through August 31, 1998. See Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the P.R.C.: Final Results of Administrative Antidumping Duty and New Shipper Reviews, and Final Rescission of New Shipper Review, 65 Fed.Reg. 20,948 (Apr. 19, 2000) {“Final Results ”). The court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) and 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(i)(I). Where a party challenges the findings of an antidumping review, the court will hold unlawful “any determination, finding, or conclusion found ... to be unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law ....” 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B)(i). For the reasons set forth below, the court denies Plaintiffs’ motion and the final determination of the United States Department of Commerce is sustained.

BACKGROUND

On September 20, 1996, the Crawfish Processors Alliance (“Petitioner”), on behalf of the domestic industry, filed a petition with the United States Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) alleging that imports of freshwater crawfish tail meat from the PRC were being sold, or were likely to be sold, in the United States at less than fair value. See Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the P.R.C.; Initiation of Antidumping Investigation, 61 Fed.Reg. 54,154 (Oct. 17, 1996). 2 Following receipt of *1353 the petition, Commerce initiated an investigation and sent antidumping questionnaires to various PRC freshwater crawfish tail meat exporters and producers. See Notice of Prelim. Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the P.R.C., 62 Fed.Reg. 14,392, 14,393 (Mar. 26, 1997) (“Investigation Prelim. Determination ”). Questionnaire responses were received from numerous companies, 3 including Hu-aiyin Foreign Trade Corporation (“HFTC”)- 4 Plaintiff Huaiyin 30, an entity unrelated to HFTC, took no part in the proceedings. 5 As it had done previously, Commerce treated the PRC as a nonmark-et economy country 6 and, thus, companies wishing to receive a company-specific anti-dumping duty margin were required to demonstrate an absence of state control. Id. at 14,394. In its questionnaire response, HFTC indicated that it was applying for a separate company-specific margin. Id.

In August of 1997, Commerce completed its investigation and established antidump-ing duty margins for individual producers and for the PRC as a whole. HFTC demonstrated the requisite absence of state control and, thus, its company-specific an-tidumping duty margin was set at 91.5 percent. See Notice of Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the P.R.C., 62 Fed.Reg. 41,347, 41,349 (Aug. 1, 1997), amended by, Notice of Amendment to Final Determination of Sales at Less *1354 Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order: Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the P.R.C., 62 Fed.Reg. 48,219 (Sept. 15, 1997) (“The ad valorem weighted-average dumping margins are as follows ... Huaiyin Foreign Trading Corporation ... 91.50” percent.) (“LTFV Final Determination ”). As Plaintiff Huaiyin 30 took no part in the proceedings, it was assigned the PRC-wide antidumping duty margin of 201.63 percent, as were all other exporters of crawfish tail meat that did not establish their independence from government control. See id. at 41,349 (“We are applying a single antidumping [PRC] rate ... to all exporters in the PRC other than those firms that were fully responsive to our requests for information.”). Commerce based this .“determination ... on [the] presumption that the export activities of the companies that failed to” demonstrate the absence of state control “are controlled by the PRC government.” Id. (citation omitted). Therefore, because it did not qualify for a separate rate in the investigation, Plaintiff Huaiyin 30 was assigned the PRC-wide antidumping duty margin of 201.63 percent. (See Issue and Decision Mem., 04/07/2000, Pub. R. Doc. 214 at 124 (“[Plaintiff Huaiyin 30] has never qualified for a separate rate, either in this review or the LTFV investigation ....”)•)

According to Plaintiffs, following the issuance of the LTFV Final Determination, events transpired outside of the context of any Commerce proceeding that affected the subsequent course of events. First, upon learning that HFTC had received a lower rate than Plaintiff Huaiyin 30, the local PRC government concluded that Plaintiff Huaiyin 30 should take advantage of HFTC’s lower rate:

After the 1996 crawfish investigation, HFTC[ ] got a relatively low antidump-ing duty rate while [Plaintiff] Huaiyin 30 got a much higher rate. [Plaintiff] Hu-aiyin 30 and other local crawfish exporters wanted to use HFTC[’s] low rate. HFTC[] was unhappy about this and asked the Committee for assistance.... [T]he Committee and other local companies felt that HFTC[] should share its rate with other local exporters.

(Pls.’ Mem. Supp. Mot. J. Agency R. at 8 (citing Committee Verification Report, Pub R. Doc. 185 at 3) (emphasis in Pls.’ Mem.).) Thus, despite having been assigned the PRC-wide antidumping duty margin of 201.63 percent, Plaintiff Huaiyin 30 took advantage of HFTC’s separate company-specific antidumping duty margin of 91.5 percent when exporting its product to the United States. This decision on the part of the local PRC government appears to have raised questions in the minds of Plaintiff Huaiyin 30’s customers who consequently made inquiries. On this point, Plaintiffs state that GMRI/Red Lobster:

[M]et with the Vice Director of the China Commodities Inspection Bureau ... and the Vice General Manager of [Plaintiff Huaiyin] 30 .... These gentleman assured [GMRI/Red Lobster that Plaintiff Huaiyin] 30 was entitled to the 91.5% tariff. When asked ... for documentation they produced a circular from their industry association which clearly stated Huaiyin Foreign Trade Corporation was entitled to the 91.5% tariff. They also produced a letter from the U.S.

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201 F. Supp. 2d 1351, 26 Ct. Int'l Trade 494, 26 C.I.T. 494, 24 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1527, 2002 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huaiyin-foreign-trade-corp-30-v-united-states-department-of-commerce-cit-2002.