Ductile Iron Flanges Likely Not Subject to AD Duties on China Pipe Fittings, CIT Says
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 13 rejected a Commerce Department scope ruling that found Star Pipe’s ductile iron flanges subject to antidumping duties on non-malleable pipe fittings from China, ordering the agency to reconsider its findings in light of evidence that the products were not intended to be covered by the AD duty order.
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Commerce had in 2017 found the flanges, produced to AWWA C115 specification and used to modify a straight end pipe to enable its connection to either a flanged pipe, flanged pipe fitting or another flange, are in effect pipe fittings because they are used to connect pipes (see 1709190039). However, AWWA C115 requires that the flanges be connected to pipes by a fabricator, rather than by a process of simply threading them onto a pipe, indicating they are not intended for assembly to pipes “in the field” and are not pipe fittings, CIT said.
“There is record evidence that the threaded flanges imported by Star Pipe, in their condition as entered, are not suitable for use in assembling piping systems. Instead, according to the Scope Ruling Request and AWWA standard C115, to which they are described as conforming, they are suitable for use in the assembly of piping systems only after they have undergone post-importation assembly and fabrication,” CIT said.
In finding the flanges are pipe fittings intended to join two pipes, Commerce’s scope ruling “appears to describe the use of the flange only after the flange has become a component in the downstream product resulting from post-importation processing, i.e., a pipe to which a fabricator has added one or more flanges,” CIT said. That’s not the condition of the product as imported, however, nor is it what Star Pipe was asking about in its scope request, the trade court said.
CIT also took issue with Commerce’s finding that ductile iron flanges are subject to the AD duty order on non-malleable cast iron pipe fittings, even though ductile iron pipe fittings were excluded from the International Trade Commission’s final injury determination in the original investigation. “Read in the entirety, the ITC Report contains evidence lending weight to a conclusion that Star Pipe’s flanges are not subject merchandise,” CIT said.
(Star Pipe Products v. U.S., Slip Op. 19-20, CIT # 17-00236, dated 02/13/19, Judge Stanceu)