Industria de Fundicao Tupy v. United States

20 Ct. Int'l Trade 870, 936 F. Supp. 1009, 20 C.I.T. 870, 18 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1968, 1996 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 128
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 22, 1996
DocketCourt No. 95-09-01160
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 20 Ct. Int'l Trade 870 (Industria de Fundicao Tupy 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
Industria de Fundicao Tupy v. United States, 20 Ct. Int'l Trade 870, 936 F. Supp. 1009, 20 C.I.T. 870, 18 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1968, 1996 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 128 (cit 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

I

Introduction

Wallach, Judge:

This case tests whether a foreign exporter to the United States may force the government to use low antidumping rates determined in an initial less-than-fair-value (“LTFV”) investigation by refusing to provide updated information for an administrative review. Plaintiffs, Industria de Fundicao Tupy (“Tupy”), the sole exporter of malleable cast iron pipe fittings from Brazil, and American Iron & Alloys Corporation (“American Iron”),1 challenge the final results of the International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce (“ITA” or “Commerce”), of the first administrative review of a 1986 antidump-ing duty order. Final Results of Administrative Review; Malleable Cast Iron Pipe Fittings from Brazil, 60 Fed. Reg. 41,876 (August 14, 1995) (“Final Results ”). Because Tupy refused to cooperate in the administrative review, Commerce used the simple average of the rates from the initial 1985 petition as best information available (“BIA”) for the first administrative review period, even though in 1986 the ITA had calculated a lower margin in the less-than-fair-value (“LTFV”) investigation. The Court has jurisdiction under 19 U.S. C. § 1516a(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) (1988) and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (1988).

For the reasons discussed below, the Court holds that Commerce’s choice of BIA is proper. This is an unusual situation where the only respondent to an administrative review was the sole participant in the initial antidumping duty determination. The Court will not allow [871]*871respondent to cap its antidumping duty rate by refusing to provide updated information to the ITA. Moreover, because all related information was uniquely within the sole possession of Tupy, Commerce was justified in its decision to use data from the initial antidumping petition as the basis for its updated margin calculation.

II

Background

In 1985, the Cast Iron Pipe Fittings Committee, on behalf of the domestic producers of pipe fittings, filed a petition seeking an anti-dumping investigation of malleable cast iron pipe fittings from Brazil. See Malleable Iron Pipe Fittings from Brazil; Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigation, 50 Fed. Reg. 34,730 (August 27, 1985) (“Initiation 1985”). The investigation was conducted only with respect to Fundieao Tupy, S.A., the sole exporter of malleable cast iron pipe fittings from Brazil.2

Commerce concluded that Tupy was dumping pipe fittings during the period of investigation (“POI”), February 1, 1985 through July 31, 1985, at a margin of 5.64 percent. Malleable Cast Iron Pipe Fittings, Other than Grooved, from Brazil; Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value, 51 Fed. Reg. 10,897 (March 31, 1986) (“Final Determination”). After the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) determined that the malleable cast iron pipe fittings from Brazil were a cause of material injury to the competing domestic industry, Certain Cast Iron Pipe Fittings from Brazil, Korea, and Taiwan, 51 Fed. Reg. 18,670 (May 21, 1986), Commerce published an Antidumping Order (the “Order”) against Malleable Cast Iron Pipe Fittings from Brazil, 51 Fed. Reg. 18,640 (May 21, 1986), which required importers of Brazilian pipe fittings to deposit estimated duties at an ad valorem rate of 5.64 percent.

On July 15,1994, Commerce initiated the first administrative review of this Order, Initiation of Antidumping Administrative Review and Requests for Revocation in Part, 59 Fed. Reg. 36,160, based on the request by three domestic manufacturers, Grinnell Corporation, Ward Manufacturing, Incorporated, and Stockham Valves and Fittings Company, Incorporated (“Petitioners”). Public Document to the Administrative Record (“Pub. Ad. Rec.”) at Fiche 2, Frame (“Fr.”) 1. Commerce sent its standard administrative review questionnaire to Tupy, requesting data on its sales and its selling prices in the United States and Brazil for the May 1, 1993 through April 30, 1994 period of review (“POR”). Pub. Ad. Rec. at Fiche 3, Frs. 7, 9.

Tupy failed to respond to the questionnaire, and instead, requested either revocation of the Order or postponement of the review. Pub. Ad. Rec. at Fiche 5, Fr. 1. On September 9, 1994, the Court granted an ex-parte Temporary Restraining Order, sought by Tupy, enjoining [872]*872Commerce from conducting the administrative review. Defendant-Intervenors’ Brief in Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Judgment on the Agency Record at appendix B. The Temporary Restraining Order was dissolved on October 6,1994, following the denial of Tupy’s motion for a Preliminary Injunction barring Commerce from conducting the administrative review. Industria de Fundicao Tupy v. Brown, 866 F. Supp. 565 (CIT 1994).

In a letter to Commerce dated October 31, 1994, Tupy expressly refused to provide the information requested in the questionnaire, stating that “* * * the disruption of [our] ongoing business, the fact that [our] records are not computerized in the format required by the [ITA], and the potential benefits derived from [our] insignificant exports to the United States do not justify the time and expense related to compiling the information and completing the questionnaire.” Pub. Ad. Rec. at Fiche 5, Fr. 26.

When Tupy refused to provide information to Commerce, Petitioners urged Commerce to base the administrative review on BIA, and to use “the simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition that resulted in the Order under review, specifically, 34.65 percent.” Pub. Ad. Rec. at Fiche 5, Fr. 33. Tupy agreed that Commerce must use BIA, but argued that Tupy’s existing dumping margin was the best information available.3

Commerce preliminarily based BIA on Tupy’s estimated duty deposit rate. It noted that “[b]ecause Tupy refused to respond to our requests for information * * * we have used the highest rate ever found in this proceeding to establish its margin. This rate is 5.64%." Certain Malleable Cast Iron Pipe Fittings From Brazil; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Administrative Review, 60 Fed. Reg. 9,821 (Feb. 22, 1995) (“Preliminary Results”).

In an administrative case brief submitted to Commerce on March 24, 1995, the domestic manufacturers reiterated that BIA should be based on the simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the petition, and also suggested that if Tupy’s 1985 dumping margin were used as the basis for BIA, it should be adjusted upward to reflect changes in exchange rates, resulting in a dumping margin of 38.84 percent. Pub. Ad. Rec. at Fiche 7, Fr. 16. In response, Tupy restated its earlier argument that BIA should be based on Tupy’s dumping margin from the 1985 POI.

On August 14,1995, Commerce published the Final Results, in which it stated:

[u]pon review of the comments our choice of a rate to use as first-tier BIA [a rate of 5.64 percent] has changed. In this case, Tupy is the only company to have ever been reviewed or investigated, and we have only calculated one margin, which was in the less-than-[873]*873fair-value (LTFV) investigation.

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20 Ct. Int'l Trade 870, 936 F. Supp. 1009, 20 C.I.T. 870, 18 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1968, 1996 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/industria-de-fundicao-tupy-v-united-states-cit-1996.