Allegheny Bradford Corp. v. U.S., SLIP OP. 04-59.

• Decision Date: 04 June 2004
• Docket Number: Court No. 02-00073.,SLIP OP. 04-59.
• Citation: 342 F.Supp.2d 1172
• Parties: ALLEGHENY BRADFORD CORPORATION, d/b/a Top Line Process Equipment Company, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of International Trade

342 F.Supp.2d 1172

ALLEGHENY BRADFORD CORPORATION, d/b/a Top Line Process Equipment Company, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant.

SLIP OP. 04-59.

Court No. 02-00073.

United States Court of International Trade.

June 4, 2004.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC (James K. Kearney) for plaintiff.

Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, David M. Cohen, Director, Jeanne E. Davidson, Deputy Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice (David S. Silverbrand, James H. Holl, III, and Paul D. Kovac), Philip J. Curtin, Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel for Import Administration, United States Department of Commerce, Christopher Chen, Senior Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, for defendant, of counsel.

OPINION

RESTANI, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Allegheny Bradford Corporation, d/b/a Top Line Process Equipment Company ("Top Line") moves for judgment on the agency record that its stainless steel butt-weld tube fittings from Taiwan were improperly ruled to be within the scope of an antidumping duty order by the U.S. Department of Commerce ("Commerce" or "Department"). Final Scope Ruling on the Antidumping Duty Order on Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Taiwan: Allegheny Bradford Corporation d/b/a Top Line Process Equipment (Dep't Commerce Dec. 10, 2001), P.R. 29:13:33, Pl.'s App., Doc. 1, notice published at 66 Fed.Reg. 65,899 (Dep't Commerce Dec. 21, 2001) [hereinafter Final Affirmative Scope Ruling]. The underlying antidumping duty order imposed duties on stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Taiwan. Amended Final Determination and Antidumping Duty Order: Certain Welded Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from Taiwan, 58 Fed.Reg. 33,250 (Dep't Commerce June 16, 1993) [hereinafter Antidumping Duty Order or Order]. Because its tube fittings are unambiguously outside the scope of the Antidumping Duty Order, Top Line's motion is granted.

BACKGROUND

I. THE ANTIDUMPING DUTY INVESTIGATION

The Antidumping Duty Order was the culmination of an investigation initiated by the petition of the Flowline Division of Markovitz Enterprises. Petition (May 20, 1992), P.R. 1:3:14-18,¹ Pl.'s App., Doc. 3, Ex. 4 [hereinafter Petition]. The petition alleged unfair imports of stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings with an inside diameter of under fourteen (14) inches from Taiwan and the Republic of Korea. Petition, at 1, P.R. 1:3:14, Pl.'s App., Doc. 3, Ex. 4 at 1. Over the course of several pages, the petition describes the subject merchandise as follows:

• classifiable under heading 7307.23 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule;

• designated under heading A403/A403M — 1991 of the standards developing organization, ASTM;

• having American National Standards Institute ("ANSI") dimensional specifications B16.9 — 1986 and B16.28 — 1986;

• including finished or unfinished fittings capable of meeting these specifications • excluding "threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings;"

• "used to connect pipe sections in piping systems where conditions require welded connections, as distinguished from fittings designed for other fastening methods (e.g., threaded, grooved, or bolted fitting);"

• "used where one or more of the following conditions is a factor in designing the piping system: (1) corrosion of the piping system will occur if material other than stainless steel is used; (2) contamination of the material in the system by the system itself must be prevented; (3) high temperatures (in excess of 300 F) are present; (4) extreme low temperatures are present; (5) high pressures are contained within the system;"

• "used in so-called `process' piping systems such as chemical plants, foot processing facilities, breweries, cryogenic plants (including basic oxygen steel processing), waste treatment facilities, pulp and paper production facilities, gas processing (gas separation) facilities, and commercial nuclear power plants and nuclear navy applications (in reactor lines and water lines);"

• coming in "several basic shapes: `elbows', `tees', `reducers', `stub ends' and caps';"

• having edges that, for finished fittings, "are beveled so that when placed against the end of a pipe (the ends of which have also been beveled) a shallow channel is created to accommodate the `bead' of the weld which joins the fittings to the pipe"

Id. at1 — 4, Pl.'s App., Doc. 3, Ex. 4 at1 — 4.

Working from Flowline's product description, Commerce formulated the antidumping investigation's scope in its notice of initiation:

The products subject to these investigations are stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings, whether finished or unfinished, under 14 inches inside diameter.

Stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings are used to connect pipe sections in piping systems where conditions require welded connections. The subject merchandise is used where one or more of the following conditions is a factor in designing the piping system: (1) Corrosion of the piping system will occur if material other than stainless steel is used; (2) contamination of the material in the system by the system itself must be prevented; (3) high temperatures are present; (4) extreme low temperatures are present; (5) high pressures are contained within the system.

Stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings come in a variety of shapes, with the following five shapes the most basic: "elbows", "tees", "reducers", "stub ends", and "caps". The edges of finished fittings are beveled. Threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings are excluded from these investigations. The stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings subject to these investigations are classifiable under subheading 7307.23.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

Initiation of Antidumping Duty Investigations: Certain Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, 57 Fed.Reg. 26,645 (Dep't Commerce June 15, 1992) [hereinafter Notice of Initiation of Investigation]. When Commerce issued its preliminary determination roughly six months later, the scope language underwent minor changes, which consisted primarily of the addition of the word "certain" in its reference to the pipe fittings:

The products subject to this investigation are certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings, whether finished or unfinished, under 14 inches inside diameter.

Certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings (pipe fittings) are used to connect pipe sections in piping systems where conditions require welded connections. The subject merchandise is used where one or more of the following conditions is a factor in designing the piping system:

(1) Corrosion of the piping system will occur if material other than stainless steel is used;

(2) Contamination of the material in the system by the system itself must be prevented;

(3) High temperatures are present;

(4) Extreme low temperatures are present;

(5) High pressures are contained within the system.

["Stainless steel butt-weld" deleted] Pipe fittings come in a variety of shapes, with the following five shapes being the most basic: "elbows", "tees", "reducers", "stub ends", and "caps". The edges of finished fittings are beveled. Threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings are excluded from these investigations. The pipe fittings subject to these investigations are classifiable under subheading 7307.23.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the scope of this investigation is dispositive.

Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value: Certain Stainless Steel Butt-Weld Pipe Fittings From Taiwan, 57 Fed.Reg. 61,047 (Dep't Commerce Dec. 23, 1992) [hereinafter Preliminary Determination] (emphasis added to show changes from Notice of Initiation of Investigation).

The Final Determination nearly duplicated the scope language of the Preliminary Determination, with the addition, however, of two paragraphs regarding A774 fittings:

The products subject to this investigation are certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings, whether finished or unfinished, under 14 inches inside diameter.

Certain welded stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings (pipe fittings) are used to connect pipe sections in piping systems where conditions required welded connections. The subject merchandise is used where one or more of the following conditions is a factor in designing the piping system: (1) Corrosion of the piping system will occur if material other than stainless steel is used; (2) contamination of the material in the system by the system itself must be prevented; (3) high temperatures are present; (4) extreme low temperatures are present; (5) high pressures are contained within the system.

Pipe fittings come in a variety of shapes, with the following five shapes the most basic: "elbows", "tees", "reducers", "stub ends", and "caps". The edges of finished pipe fittings are beveled. Threaded, grooved, and bolted fittings are excluded from these investigations. The pipe fittings subject to these investigations are classifiable under subheading 7307.23.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS).

Although the HTSUS subheading is provided for convenience and customs purposes, our written description of the scope of these investigations is dispositive.

After it withdrew from this investigation, [Tachia Yung Ho Machine Co., Ltd.] inquired whether A774 type stainless steel pipe fittings were included within the scope of the investigation, and therefore, subject to any antidumping duty order.

Based on the information on the record, we determine that A774 is covered by the scope of this investigation because it meets the requirements outlined in our scope. Our scope states that fittings must be under 14 seconds in inside diameter and can be either...