Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 01 June 2000
• Docket Number: Slip Op. 00-62.,Court No. 99-01-00001.
• Citation: 110 F.Supp.2d 934
• Parties: KOYO SEIKO CO., LTD. and Koyo Corporation of U.S.A., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant, and The Timken Company, Defendant-Intervenor.
• Court: U.S. Court of International Trade

110 F.Supp.2d 934

KOYO SEIKO CO., LTD. and Koyo Corporation of U.S.A., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant and The Timken Company, Defendant-Intervenor.

Slip Op. 00-62.

Court No. 99-01-00001.

United States Court of International Trade.

June 1, 2000.

Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, LLP (Peter O. Suchman, Neil R. Ellis and Elizabeth C. Hafner), Washington, DC, for plaintiffs.

David W. Ogden, Acting Assistant Attorney General; David M. Cohen, Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice (Michele D. Lynch); of counsel: John F. Koeppen, Office of the Chief Counsel for Import Administration, United States Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, for defendant.

Stewart and Stewart (Terence P. Stewart, William A. Fennell and Patrick J. McDonough), Washington, DC, for defendant-intervenor.

OPINION

TSOUCALAS, Senior Judge.

Plaintiffs, Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. and Koyo Corporation of U.S.A. (collectively "Koyo"), move pursuant to USCIT R. 56.2 for judgment upon the agency record challenging a single aspect of the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration's ("Commerce") final determination, entitled 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 of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews ("Final Results"), 63 Fed.Reg. 63,860 (Nov. 17, 1998).

Specifically, Koyo challenges Commerce's use of entered value to establish the assessment rate under 19 C.F.R. § 351.212(b) (1998).

Commerce and defendant-intervenor, The Timken Company ("Timken"), respond that Commerce's use of entered value to calculate the assessment rate was proper and in accordance with law.

BACKGROUND

This case concerns an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings and parts thereof imported from Japan during the review period of October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997.¹

Commerce reviewed and published the preliminary results on July 10, 1998. See 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; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, 63 Fed.Reg. 37,344. On November 17, 1998, Commerce published the final review at issue here. See Final Results.

The review arose from two antidumping proceedings: the antidumping finding regarding tapered roller bearings, four inches or less in diameter ("0-4" TRBs"), and components thereof, from Japan, see Tapered Roller Bearings and Certain Components From Japan, 41 Fed.Reg. 34,974 (Aug. 18, 1976), and the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings ("over-4" TRBs") and parts thereof, finished and unfinished, from Japan. See Antidumping Duty Order; Tapered Roller Bearings and Parts Thereof, Finished and Unfinished, From Japan, 52 Fed.Reg. 37,352 (Oct. 6, 1987).

Although Commerce's notice of opportunity to request a review covered both antidumping proceedings, the antidumping finding concerning the 0-4" TRBs and the antidumping duty order concerning over-4" TRBs, Koyo only requested a review of the findings concerning 0-4" TRBs.

JURISDICTION

This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a) (1994) and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (1994).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

This Court will uphold Commerce's final determination in an administrative review unless it is "unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law." 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(1)(B).

I. Substantial Evidence

Substantial evidence is "more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 477, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951) (quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). Substantial evidence "is something less than the weight of the evidence, and the possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency's finding from being supported by substantial evidence." Consolo v. Federal Maritime Comm'n, 383 U.S. 607, 620, 86 S.Ct. 1018, 16 L.Ed.2d 131 (1966); see Timken Co. v. United States, 12 CIT 955, 962, 699 F.Supp. 300, 306 (1988) ("It is not within the Court's domain either to weigh the adequate quality or quantity of the evidence for sufficiency or to reject a finding on grounds of a differing interpretation of the record.") (citation omitted). Moreover, "[t]he [C]ourt may not substitute its judgment for that of the [agency] when the choice is `between two fairly conflicting views, even though the [C]ourt would justifiably have made a different choice had the matter been before it de novo....'" American Spring Wire Corp. v. United States, 8 CIT 20, 22, 590 F.Supp. 1273, 1276 (1984) (quoting Penntech Papers, Inc. v. NLRB, 706 F.2d 18, 22-23 (1st Cir.1983) (quoting, in turn, Universal Camera, 340 U.S. at 488, 71 S.Ct. 456)).

II. Chevron Two-Step Analysis

In determining whether Commerce's interpretation and application of the antidumping statute is "in accordance with law," the Court applies the two-step analysis prescribed by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). Under the first step, the Court reviews Commerce's construction of a statutory provision to ascertain whether "Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue." Id. at 842, 104 S.Ct. 2778. To determine "whether Congress had an intention on the precise question at issue, [the Court] employ[s] the `traditional tools of statutory construction.'" Timex V.I., Inc. v. United States, 157 F.3d 879, 882 (Fed.Cir.1998) (citing Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 2778). "The first and foremost `tool' to be used is the statute's text, giving it its plain meaning." Id. (explaining that "a statute's text is Congress's final expression of its intent") (citing VE Holding Corp. v. Johnson Gas Appliance Co., 917 F.2d 1574, 1579 (Fed.Cir.1990)). If the statute's plain language answers the question, "that is the end of the matter." Id. (citing Muwwakkil v. Office of Personnel Management, 18 F.3d 921, 924 (Fed.Cir.1994)). Beyond the statute's text, the tools of statutory construction "include the statute's structure, canons of statutory construction, and legislative history." Id.; but see Floral Trade Council v. United States, 41 F.Supp.2d 319, 323 n. 6 (1999) (noting that "[n]ot all rules of statutory construction rise to the level of a canon, however.") (citing U.S. Steel Group v. United States, 22 CIT ___, 998 F.Supp. 1151, 1157-58 (1998) (rejecting the use of the maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius to discern Congress's intent under Chevron step one)).

If, after employing the first prong of Chevron, the Court determines that the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the Court becomes whether Commerce's construction of the statute is permissible. See Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843, 104 S.Ct. 2778. Essentially, this is an inquiry into the reasonableness of Commerce's interpretation. See Fujitsu Gen. Ltd. v. United States, 88 F.3d 1034, 1038 (Fed.Cir.1996); see also Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. United States, 750 F.2d 927, 933 (Fed.Cir.1984). Provided Commerce has acted rationally the Court may not substitute its judgment for the agency's. See IPSCO, Inc. v. United States, 965 F.2d 1056, 1061 (Fed.Cir. 1992); see also Koyo Seiko Co. v. United States, 36 F.3d 1565, 1570 (Fed.Cir.1994) (holding that "a court must defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation of a statute even if the court might have preferred another."). The "[C]ourt will sustain the determination if it is reasonable and supported by the record as a whole, including whatever fairly detracts from the substantiality of the evidence." Negev Phosphates, Ltd. v. United States, 12 CIT 1074, 1077, 699 F.Supp. 938, 942 (1988). In determining whether Commerce's interpretation is reasonable, the Court considers the following non-exclusive list of factors: the express terms of the provisions at issue, the objectives of those provisions and the objectives of the antidumping scheme as a whole.

DISCUSSION

I. Calculation of the Antidumping Duty Assessment Rate

A. Background

This case arises from the final results of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings and parts thereof manufactured by a foreign manufacturer, Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd., and imported from Japan by Koyo Corporation of U.S.A. ("KSU"), a subsidiary of Koyo, which through its sales and distribution division, Koyo Corporation of U.S.A.-Sales Division, was an exclusive importer of merchandise produced by Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd., during the review period of October 1, 1996 through September 30, 1997. See Final Results, 63 Fed. Reg. at 63,860. In the subject review, Commerce, following its usual practice in ascertaining cash deposit rates and assessment rates, stated that "[t]he cash deposit rate has been determined on the basis of the selling price to the first unaffiliated U.S. customer. For appraisement purposes, where information is available, [Commerce] will use the entered value of the merchandise to determine the assessment rate." Final Results, 63 Fed.Reg. at 63,876.

Any of Commerce's findings concerning assessment rates and cash deposit rates is subject to 19 U.S.C. § 1675(a)(1)(B) (1994) which provides that Commerce shall "review, and determine (in accordance with paragraph(2)), the amount of any antidumping duty ...." Paragraph two further states that the dumping margin "shall be the basis for the assessment of ... antidumping duties on entries of merchandise ...." 19 U.S.C. § 1675(a)(2)(C).

The dumping margin (equal to the amount of antidumping...