Rhp Bearings Ltd. v. U.S., Slip Op. 01-18.
| Decision Date | 23 February 2001 |
| Docket Number | Slip Op. 01-18.,Court No. 97-11-01983. |
| Parties | RHP BEARINGS LTD., NSK Bearings Europe Ltd. and NSK Corporation; the Barden Corporation (U.K.) Ltd., the Barden Corporation, FAG Bearings Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant, The Torrington Company, Defendant-Intervenor. |
| Court | U.S. Court of International Trade |
Stuart E. Schiffer, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Washington, DC; David M. Cohen, Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC (Velta A. Melnbrencis, Assistant Director); of counsel: Mark A. Barnett, Stacy J. Ettinger, Patrick V. Gallagher, Myles S. Getlan and David R. Mason, Office of the Chief Counsel, Washington, DC, for Import Administration, United States Department of Commerce, for defendant.
Stewart and Stewart (Terence P. Stewart, Wesley K. Caine, Geert De Prest and Lane S. Hurewitz), Washington, DC, for The Torrington Company ("Torrington").
The Court will uphold Commerce's redetermination pursuant to the Court's remand 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) (1994). Substantial evidence is 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).
On August 3, 2000, this Court issued an opinion and order directing the United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration ("Commerce"), to: (1) annul all findings and conclusions made pursuant to the duty-absorption inquiry conducted for the subject review; (2) match Barden-FAG's United States sales to similar home market sales before resorting to constructed value ("CV"); and (3) recalculate Barden-FAG's dumping margin without regard to the results of the below-cost test. See RHP Bearings Ltd. v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 110 F.Supp.2d 1043, 1055 (2000). The administrative determination underlying the Court's decision in RHP Bearings is entitled Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof From France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom; Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews ("Final Results"), 62 Fed.Reg. 54,043 (Oct. 17, 1997), as amended, Antifriction Bearings (Other Than Tapered Roller Bearings) and Parts Thereof From France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom; Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Reviews, 62 Fed.Reg. 61,963 (Nov. 20, 1997).
On October 20, 2000, Commerce submitted its Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand ("Remand Results"). In order to comply with the Court's decision in RHP Bearings, Commerce: (1) annulled all findings and conclusions made pursuant to its duty-absorption inquiry with respect to Barden-FAG and RHP-NSK; (2) matched United States sales to Barden-FAG's home-market sales of "similar" merchandise before resorting to constructed value; and (3) recalculated Barden-FAG's dumping margin without regard to the results of the cost-of-production analysis.
Torrington was the only party to submit comments on the draft results issued by Commerce on September 14, 2000. Both Barden-FAG and Torrington submitted comments to this Court regarding the Remand Results. RHP-NSK did not submit any comments.
With respect to the duty-absorption issue, Torrington continues to maintain that Commerce has inherent authority to conduct the absorption inquiries in any review. Torrington also maintains that Commerce's initial determination to conduct a below-cost test for Barden-FAG's sales and to disregard certain home market sales is supported by substantial evidence on the record and in accordance with law. Finally, Torrington believes that the Court exceeded its authority in directing Commerce to recalculate Barden-FAG's dumping margin without regard to the results of the below-cost test. Torrington does not contest the Court's decision to instruct Commerce to match Barden-FAG's United States sales to similar home market sales before resorting to CV.
Barden-FAG limits its comments to Commerce's calculation of Barden-FAG's antidumping margin without regard to the results of the below-cost test. Barden-FAG maintains that 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(b) (1994) provides two methods by which Commerce can conduct a below-cost test and, contrary to Torrington's arguments, no reasonable grounds exist for Commerce to perform the test under either method. Barden-FAG does not contest the Court's decision to instruct Commerce to match Barden-FAG's United States sales to similar home market sales before resorting to CV.
In its discussion of the parties' comments to the Remand Results, Commerce indicates that it has complied with the Court's remand instructions; however, Commerce incorporates by reference the arguments contained in its Motion for Rehearing and Modification of the Court's Decision, Slip Op. 00-28, and Accompanying Order of March 22, 2000 ("Motion"), dated April 14, 2000. In its Motion, Commerce contended that the Court misread the statute in precluding Commerce from conducting duty-absorption inquiries for transition orders. Commerce also argued that in issuing the remand order, the Court erred in directing Commerce to annul all findings and conclusions made pursuant to its duty-absorption inquiry and that the Court should have instead directed Commerce to take further action consistent with the correct legal standard. Commerce does not contest the Court's decision to instruct Commerce to match Barden-FAG's United States sales to similar home market sales before resorting to CV.
This Court has repeatedly held that Commerce lacks statutory authority under 19 U.S.C. § 1675(a)(4)(1994) to conduct duty-absorption inquiries for antidumping duty orders issued prior to the January 1, 1995 effective date of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, Pub.L. No. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809 (1994). See SNR Roulements v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 118 F.Supp.2d 1333, 1337 (2000); SKF USA Inc. v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 116 F.Supp.2d 1257, 1260 (2000); SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 00-106, 2000 WL 1225803, *3 (Aug. 23, 2000); RHP Bearings Ltd. v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 110 F.Supp.2d 1043, 1052-53 (2000); FAG Italia S.p.A. v. United States, Slip Op. 00-82, 2000 WL 978462, *5 (July 13, 2000); SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 00-81, 2000 WL 977373, *3 (July 12, 2000); NTN Bearing Corp. of America v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 104 F.Supp.2d 110, 117 (2000); SKF USA Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 00-58, 2000 WL 726944, *3 (June 1, 2000); SKF USA Inc. v. United States, 24 CIT ___, ___, 94 F.Supp.2d 1351, 1357-59 (2000). Torrington presents no arguments compelling the Court to reconsider the issue and hold otherwise.
Similarly, the Court finds Torrington's arguments regarding the authority of the Court to fashion a remand order unpersuasive. Torrington believes that the Court exceeded its power on judicial review in directing Commerce to annul its findings instead of permitting Commerce to reach a determination consistent with the Court's order.
Torrington is incorrect. The Court found that Commerce was without authority under the antidumping statute to conduct a duty-absorption inquiry for the subject review; the only action that Commerce could take in order to remain within the bounds of the Court's interpretation of the law would be to annul the findings and conclusions made pursuant to Commerce's erroneous interpretation of the law. Thus, the result here would necessarily be the same whether the Court ordered Commerce to annul its findings or, more generally, ordered...
To continue reading
Request your trial