Importer Says Recent Scope Ruling Undercuts US Position in Scope Case on Edgeboards
Importer Hardware Resources alerted the Court of International Trade to a recent scope ruling by the Commerce Department on feedstock for window blinds, arguing that it helps its case contesting Commerce's scope ruling on wood mouldings and millwork products (Hardware Resources v. United States, CIT # 23-00150).
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On Dec. 22, the agency issued a final scope ruling regarding importer Blinds to Go's feedstock for window blinds, finding them to be outside the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wood moulding and millwork products from China. Hardwood Resources said that in that ruling, "Commerce has now acknowledged that the scope 'as a whole emphasizes form and intended function,'" which is a "conclusion that is directly contrary to the Defendant’s claim in the instant litigation."
In Hardwood Resources’ case, the U.S. said Commerce correctly found that the phrase "wood moulding and millwork products" didn't "carry any end-use restriction." The importer said the Cabinets to Go scope ruling directly contradicts this finding, since, in that proceeding, "Commerce agreed that it must consider the 'product’s ultimate nature and purpose' when examining whether a product is subject to the scope." Those are factors the agency "did not properly recognize in the Remand Results at issue here," Hardwood Resources said.
Commerce's original scope ruling on the importer's edge-glued boards was remanded by the trade court for failing to determine whether Hardware Resources’ products actually were wood mouldings or millwork products (see 2412170026). On remand, Commerce again found Hardware Resources’ products to be in scope (see 2503180061).