Torrington Co. v. United States

68 F.3d 1347, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1961, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 29842, 1995 WL 621733
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedOctober 24, 1995
DocketNos. 95-1134, 95-1135
StatusPublished
Cited by180 cases

This text of 68 F.3d 1347 (Torrington Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Torrington Co. v. United States, 68 F.3d 1347, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1961, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 29842, 1995 WL 621733 (Fed. Cir. 1995).

Opinion

BRYSON, Circuit Judge.

These consolidated cases present two questions of statutory interpretation arising out of an administrative review of antidumping duty orders. The first question concerns what constitutes “good cause,” within the meaning of 19 U.S.C. § 1677e(b)(3)(B) (1988), to require the Commerce Department to verify the information it relied on in conducting the administrative review. The second question is whether the Commerce Department may lawfully reduce the potential antidump-ing duties on goods imported into this country by taking into account pre-sale transportation expenses associated with the sale of like goods in the manufacturers’ home markets. We conclude that the Court of International Trade correctly resolved both questions, and we therefore affirm.

I

In 1990, the International Trade Administration of the Commerce Department (Commerce) initiated administrative reviews of an-tidumping duty orders covering antifriction bearings from Germany and Italy. The Tor-rington Company, an American manufacturer of antifriction bearings, filed requests that Commerce verify all information upon which it would base its determinations in those reviews. In response to questionnaires from Commerce, the foreign companies that were subject to the reviews submitted information regarding their production costs for the imported bearings. Torrington then filed objections to the companies’ responses, arguing inter alia that several of the companies had changed their cost accounting systems for the purpose of antidumping reporting.

Commerce originally scheduled on-site verifications for several of the companies. It subsequently canceled the verifications, however, citing as one factor the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War, which had made European air travel less safe for Commerce Department personnel. Torrington objected to the cancellations and suggested that Commerce postpone the verifications until after air travel was safer or, in the alternative, that it conduct verification of the pertinent data in Washington, D.C. Commerce declined to [1350]*1350pursue either option, stating that it was satisfied with the responses it had received.

Torrington filed complaints in the Court of International Trade, challenging Commerce’s failure to conduct the verifications. In addition, Torrington argued that it was improper for Commerce to deduct an importer’s pre-sale home-market transportation expenses from the calculation of foreign market value, a key element in determining the antidump-ing duty.

The Court of International Trade affirmed Commerce on both questions but remanded to the agency on other issues. Torrington Co. v. United States, 832 F.Supp. 365 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1993) (Italy); Torrington Co. v. United States, 832 F.Supp. 379 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1993) (Germany). Following the proceedings on remand, Torrington asked the Court of International Trade to reconsider its ruling on pre-sale home-market transportation expenses in light of this court’s intervening decision in Ad Hoc Comm. of AZ-NM-TX-FL Producers of Gray Portland Cement v. United States, 13 F.3d 398 (Fed.Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 115 S.Ct. 67, 130 L.Ed.2d 23 (1994) (“Ad Hoc I ”). The court declined to do so, holding that Ad Hoc I did not address the question presented in this case. Torrington Co. v. United States, 850 F.Supp. 7 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1994) (Italy); Torrington Co. v. United States, 850 F.Supp. 12 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1994) (Germany). After a further remand for clarification of Commerce’s policy on home-market transportation expenses, the Court of International Trade once again upheld Commerce’s treatment of those expenses. Torrington Co. v. United States, 866 F.Supp. 581 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1994) (Germany); Torrington Co. v. United States, 866 F.Supp. 1434 (Ct.Int’l Trade 1994) (Italy).

Torrington took this appeal. It contends that the Court of International Trade erred in upholding Commerce’s decision not to conduct verifications and in allowing Commerce to deduct pre-sale home-market transportation expenses from the calculation of foreign market value.

II

The statute on which Torrington relies for its claim that Commerce was obligated to conduct the verifications is 19 U.S.C. § 1677e(b) (1988). That statute provides that upon receiving a request from an interested party, Commerce must verify the information on which it relies in an administrative review if either (1) the two immediately preceding administrative reviews were conducted without verification, or (2) “good cause for verification is shown.” 19 U.S.C. § 1677e(b)(3)(B) (1988).

Because these were the first administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders for antifriction bearings, verification was not required unless there was a showing of “good cause for verification” within the meaning of section 1677e(b)(3)(B). Torrington argues that the “good cause” standard set forth in the statute is an objective one and that the standard was met in this case. Commerce, however, has promulgated a regulation that interprets the “good cause” standard as subjective. The pertinent regulation, found at 19 C.F.R. § 353.36(a)l(iv), states that the “Secretary will verify all factual information the Secretary relies on in ... [t]he final results of an' administrative review ... if the Secretary decides that good cause for verification exists.” In order to prevail on its view that the “good cause” standard is objective, Torrington must establish that the regulation is contrary to the terms of the statute and therefore beyond the Department’s power to adopt.

When we review a regulation that the Commerce Department has promulgated in interpreting the antidumping laws, the first question is whether Congress has spoken to the precise question at issue. See Torrington Co. v. United States, 44 F.3d 1572, 1577 (Fed.Cir.1995); Koyo Seiko Co. v. United States, 36 F.3d 1565, 1571 (Fed.Cir.1994); see generally Chevron U.S.A Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 842, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2781, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). Nothing in the language of the statute addresses the question whether the “good cause” standard is subjective or objective. Nor is there anything in the legislative history that supports Torrington’s claim that [1351]*1351Congress intended to create an objective test for “good cause.”

Torrington cites one piece of legislative history — a House report commenting that “[g]ood cause could be such factors as a significant issue of law or fact, changed or special circumstances, discrepancies found in previous verifications, or the likelihood of a significant impact on the result.” H.R.Rep. No. 725, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 43 (1984).

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68 F.3d 1347, 17 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 1961, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 29842, 1995 WL 621733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torrington-co-v-united-states-cafc-1995.