JIA Farn Manufacturing Co. v. Secretary of Commerce

17 Ct. Int'l Trade 187, 817 F. Supp. 969, 17 C.I.T. 187, 15 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1319, 1993 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 43
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedMarch 26, 1993
DocketCourt No. 92-11-00743
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 17 Ct. Int'l Trade 187 (JIA Farn Manufacturing Co. v. Secretary 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
JIA Farn Manufacturing Co. v. Secretary of Commerce, 17 Ct. Int'l Trade 187, 817 F. Supp. 969, 17 C.I.T. 187, 15 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1319, 1993 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 43 (cit 1993).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion and Order

Dicarlo, Chief Judge:

Plaintiff, a Taiwanese exporter, challenges the Department of Commerce’s authority under 19 U.S.C. § 1675 (1988) to conduct administrative reviews. Plaintiff was excluded from the anti-dumping duty order imposed on sweaters wholly or in chief weight of man-made fiber (sweaters) because it obtained a negative less-than-fair-value (LTFV) determination. However, Commerce is currently reviewing plaintiff based on the information that it is transshipping the merchandise produced by other manufacturers. The issues presented are: (1) whether the court has jurisdiction under 19 U.S.C. § 1581(i) (1988) to hear a plaintiffs challenge on Commerce’s authority to conduct administrative reviews; and (2) whether Commerce has the authority to conduct administrative reviews of a plaintiff, excluded from an antidumping duty order, upon the allegation that the plaintiff is transshipping the merchandise produced by other manufacturers under the order. The court holds that Commerce has authority to conduct these administrative reviews.

Background

Commerce conducted an antidumping investigation of sweaters from Taiwan and found sales at LTFV Sweaters Wholly or in Chief Weight of Man-Made Fiber From Taiwan, 55 Fed. Reg. 34,585 (Dep’t Comm. 1990) (final determination). Subsequently, an antidumping duty order was imposed on other manufacturers while plaintiff was excluded from the order because it obtained the negative LTFV determination as “manufacturer/producer/exporter.” Sweaters Wholly or in Chief Weight of Man-Made Fiber From Taiwan, 55 Fed. Reg. 39,033 (Dep’t Comm. 1990).

After Commerce received information that plaintiff was transshipping sweaters manufactured by other Taiwanese companies under the order, a team of U.S. officials visited plaintiff and other sweater producers in Taiwan. Commerce thereafter initiated a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order “to determine whether [plaintiff] [188]*188* * * acted as a reseller or transshipper of subject merchandise produced by other manufacturers.” Sweaters Wholly or in Chief Weight of Man-Made Fiber From Taiwan, 57 Fed. Reg. 43,785 (Dep’t Comm. 1992) (initiation of changed circumstances admin, review). Plaintiff was also included in the administrative review for the period from September 1991 to August 1992. Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 57 Fed. Reg. 48,291, 48,292 (Dep’t Comm. 1992).

In November 1992, plaintiff commenced this action seeking to enjoin Commerce from conducting the administrative reviews and simultaneously filed a motion for preliminary injunction. Learning that the preliminary results of the changed circumstances review were about to be published, plaintiff moved for a temporary restraining order seeking to enjoin such publication. The court denied the motion because plaintiff failed to show irreparable harm.

Commerce published the preliminary results of changed circumstances review on November 27, 1992, finding that plaintiff is not the manufacturer of the sweaters it exported to the United States. Sweaters Wholly or in Chief Weight of Man-Made Fiber From Taiwan, 57 Fed. Reg. 56,322 (Dep’t Comm. 1992). Accordingly, Commerce ordered Customs to suspend liquidation of all entries of these sweaters, sold or purported to be manufactured by plaintiff that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption since the date of the preliminary LTFV determination. Plaintiff is required to pay a cash deposit at the rate of 21.3%, assigned to “all others.”

To expedite the disposition of this proceeding, plaintiff waived its request for the court’s decision on its motion for preliminary injunction, and the parties agreed to proceed to the merits of the action.

Discussion

1. Jurisdiction:

Plaintiff brings this action under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i). “Section 1581(i) jurisdiction may not be invoked when jurisdiction under another subsection of § 1581 is or could have been available, unless the remedy provided under that other subsection would be manifestly inadequate.” Miller & Co. v. United States, 5 Fed. Cir. (T) 122, 124, 824 F.2d 961, 963 (1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1041 (1988).

Defendants argue because plaintiff has an adequate remedy under 19 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (1988), it is not entitled to a review under § 1581(i). Defendants maintain that if the administrative review results in the final affirmative determination, plaintiff can obtain reviews under § 1581(c). At issue is whether the relief under § 1581(c) is manifestly inadequate, permitting the action to be brought under § 1581(i).

Jurisdiction under § 1581(i) was found in “action[s] seeking to enjoin pending administrative reviews of antidumping and countervailing duty orders because they were alleged to have been improperly initiated.” Carnation Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. v. U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, 13 CIT [189]*189604, 612, 719 F. Supp. 1084, 1091 (1989) (citing Asociacion Colombiana de Exportadores de Flores (Asocoflores) v. United States, 13 CIT 584, 717 F. Supp. 847 (1989), aff’d on other grounds, 8 Fed. Cir. (T) 126, 903 F.2d 1555 (1990)); see also Techsnabexport, Ltd. v. United States, 16 CIT 420, 422-25, 795 F. Supp. 428 (1992). In Carnation, Asocoflores and Techsna-bexport, the plaintiffs “ challenge^] the legality of the proceedings, rather than particular determinations within the proceedings, and demanded] to be relieved of the obligation to participate in proceedings they find statutorily and constitutionally infirm.” Techsnabexport, 16 CIT at 424, 795 F. Supp. at 434.

“ [Commerce]’s decision to initiate the administrative review is not a preliminary decision which will be superseded by a final determination, nor is it a decision related to methodology or procedure which may be reviewed by the court following the agency’s final determination. ” Asocoflores, 13 CIT at 587, 717 F. Supp. 850. Finding that the plaintiffs objective in the challenge to the administrative review was to “be spared the considerable time, effort and money normally required of participants in such reviews,” the Asocoflores court held that the relief by the review under § 1581(c) after the completion of the administrative review was inadequate. Id. In Techsnabexport, plaintiffs sought to enjoin Commerce from continuing the investigation of uranium imports from the former Soviet Union because the country ceased to exist. The court stated when a plaintiff challenges Commerce’s authority to continue an-tidumping or countervailing duty proceedings, it has jurisdiction to hear the challenge prior to the completion of the proceedings under § 1581(i)(4) “if the opportunity for full relief maybe lost by awaiting the final determination.” Techsnabexport, 16 CIT at 424, 795 F. Supp. at 434.

Here, plaintiff challenges Commerce’s authority to conduct administrative reviews. Like the plaintiffs in Asocoflores

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17 Ct. Int'l Trade 187, 817 F. Supp. 969, 17 C.I.T. 187, 15 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1319, 1993 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jia-farn-manufacturing-co-v-secretary-of-commerce-cit-1993.