Timken Co. v. United States

21 Ct. Int'l Trade 725
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 3, 1997
DocketConsolidated Court No. 94-01-00008
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Ct. Int'l Trade 725 (Timken 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
Timken Co. v. United States, 21 Ct. Int'l Trade 725 (cit 1997).

Opinion

Opinion

Tsoucalas, Senior Judge:

On May 31, 1996, this Court, in Timken Co. v. United States, 20 CIT 645, 930 F. Supp. 621 (1996), remanded to the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration (“Commerce”), the final determination concerning the administrative reviews of the antidumping duty order concerning tapered roller bearings, entitled Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews; Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan and Tapered Roller Bearings, Four Inches or Less in Outside Diameter, and Components Thereof, From Japan (“Final Results”), [726]*72658 Fed. Reg. 64,720 (1993). The Final Results covered tapered roller bearings imported from Japan during the periods of October 1, 1990 through September 30,1991, and October 1, 1991 through September 30,1992. See Final Results, 58 Fed. Reg. at 64,720. The Court ordered Commerce to: (1) deny adjustment to foreign market value (“FMV”) for pre-sale home market transportation expenses where FMV was calculated using purchase price; (2) explain its method for determining that the indirect expenses of NTN Bearing Corporation of America, American NTN Bearing Manufacturing Corporation and NTN Corporation (collectively “NTN”) varied across levels of trade and, if it is unable to do so, deny the adjustment; (3) provide evidence of tests performed to verify the accuracy of NTN’s transfer prices and, if unable to do so, deny the adjustment and reallocate NTN’s expenses without using transfer prices; (4) reallocate NTN’s U.S. inland freight expenses from NTN’s warehouse to its customers, NTN’s U.S. indirect advertising expenses and NTN’s U.S. indirect selling expenses; (5) provide a reasonable explanation for accepting NTN’s downward adjustment to U.S. indirect selling expenses for interest paid on cash deposits; (6) deny the adjustment to FMV for home market billing expenses of Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. and Koyo Corporation of U.S.A. (collectively “Koyo”); (7) deny the adjustment to FMV for lump-sum billing adjustments of NSK Ltd. and NSK Corporation (collectively “NSK”); and (8) correct various clerical errors.

On November 21,1996, Commerce released draft remand results and invited interested parties to comment. After receiving comments from The Timken Company (“Timken”), Koyo and NTN, Commerce filed its Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, The Timken Company v. United States, Slip Op. 96-86 (May 31, 1996) (“Remand Results”).

Plaintiff Timken moves for a second remand claiming that Commerce’s decision to accept NTN’s adjustment to its U.S. indirect selling expenses for imputed interest on cash deposits was inconsistent with law.

Defendant-intervenor NTN contests Commerce’s conclusion in the Remand Results that it could not accept NTN’s allocation methodology as a basis for a level of trade adjustment.

1. Imputed Interest on Cash Deposits:

In the Final Results, Commerce deducted imputed interest for cash deposits from NTN’s U.S. selling expenses. 58 Fed. Reg. at 64,726. In Timken, the Court remanded the issue to Commerce “to provide a reasonable explanation on the record for accepting NTN’s downward adjustments to U.S. indirect selling expenses for interest paid on cash deposits.” Id. at 656, 930 F. Supp. at 631. In the Remand Results, Commerce explains that it considers the imputed interest expenses at issue to be comparable to expenses for legal fees related to antidumping duty proceedings. Commerce emphasizes that the imputed interest ex[727]*727penses, like legal fees, were incurred only because of the existence of an antidumping duty order involving NTN. Commerce insists that imputed interest expenses are not selling expenses since they were not incurred to facilitate selling merchandise in the United States but, rather, to comply with the statute due to the existence of an antidumping duty order. Remand Results at 23-24.

Timken recognizes that this Court upheld Commerce’s treatment of NTN’s imputed interest expenses in Federal-Mogul Corp. v. United States, 20 CIT 1438, 1440-41, 950 F. Supp. 1179, 1183 (1996), appeals docketed, No. 97-1253 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 27, 1997), No. 97-1321 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 18, 1997). Timken asserts, however, that Commerce’s detailed explanation in the Remand Results raises legal issues that must be addressed by the Court. Timken argues that the effect of Commerce’s practice is to mask significant amounts of dumping. Timken’s Comments on Commerce’s Remand Results (“Timken’s Comments”) at 2-3. Timken further contends that Commerce’s actions contravene the purpose of the antidumping statue by allowing respondents to delay the economic impact of deposits until liquidation. According to Timken, if Congress had intended the result created by Commerce’s downward adjustment, Congress would have provided for interest payments on all deposits, not just overpayments. Id. at 6-7 (citing 19 U.S.C. § 1677g (1988)). Timken further contends that Commerce’s actions are inconsistent with legislative intent. Id. at 8-13. Finally, Timken maintains that because Commerce’s rationale for the adjustment appears to be based only on duty deposit overpayments, it was improper for Commerce to permit an adjustment for interest on all of NTN’s cash deposits. Id. at 13-15.

Commerce responds that 19 U.S.C. § 1677a(e)(2) (1988) provides for a deduction to U.S. price only for expenses incurred to sell merchandise in the United States. Commerce insists that the interest expenses at issue, like legal fees, are not selling expenses and, therefore, are properly deductible from NTN’s U.S. indirect selling expenses. Commerce emphasizes that a respondent possesses the discretion to eliminate price discrimination upon the imposition of antidumping duties and that, while a company implements any changes, it still incurs a financing cost due to the statutory requirement of cash deposits. Def.’s Response to Timken’s Comments (“Def.’s Response”) at 3-5. Relying on Federal-Mogul, 20 CIT at 1440-41, 950 F. Supp. at 1183, Commerce maintains that Timken has failed to demonstrate that Commerce’s practice is inconsistent with law. Def.’s Response at 5-7.

Koyo and NTN, defendant-intervenors, agree with Commerce’s decision to permit a downward adjustment for interest on cash deposits and supports Commerce’s explanation in the Remand Results. See Koyo’s Comments on Def.’s Results of Redetermination at 2-5; NTN’s Rebuttal to Timken’s Comments at 1-2.

As Timken acknowledges, this Court upheld Commerce’s acceptance of a downward adjustment to indirect selling expenses for antidumping [728]*728duty cash deposits in Federal-Mogul, 20 CIT at 1440-41, 950 F. Supp. at 1183. Timken presents some new arguments in this case, but none alters the Court’s conclusion that “the interest NTN paid for antidump-ing duty deposits is not a selling expense and, thus, should be excluded from NTN’s U.S. indirect selling expenses.” Id. Contrary to Timken’s allegations, Congress has not addressed this issue. Timken has not pointed to anything in either the statute or the legislative history that prohibits the adjustment to indirect selling expenses.

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Related

Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. v. United States
932 F. Supp. 1488 (Court of International Trade, 1996)
NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States
17 Ct. Int'l Trade 1149 (Court of International Trade, 1993)
NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States
19 Ct. Int'l Trade 1221 (Court of International Trade, 1995)
Timken Co. v. United States
20 Ct. Int'l Trade 645 (Court of International Trade, 1996)
Federal-Mogul Corp. v. United States
20 Ct. Int'l Trade 1438 (Court of International Trade, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
21 Ct. Int'l Trade 725, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/timken-co-v-united-states-cit-1997.