CIT Affirms China Ribbons CV Final Determination; Relevant Evidence only on AD Record

The Court of International Trade affirmed the countervailing duty rate determined for Yama Ribbons and Bows in the International Trade Administration’s final determination from the CV duty investigation of certain narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China (C-570-953).

In the preliminary determination the ITA based Yama’s CV rate on its U.S. sales by a Hong Kong affiliate. Yama was assigned a preliminary de minimis rate, which would have excluded the company from the CV duty order if adopted in the final determination. In the final determination, however, the ITA decided to instead use sales from Yama to its Hong Kong affiliate, which brought Yama’s CV rate up to 1.56 percent and made the company subject to the CV duty order.

Yama argued that because the companies were affiliated and the sales from Yama to the Hong Kong affiliate were therefore not at arm’s length, the ITA should not have relied on these sales. The ITA said there was no evidence on the record that the two companies were cross-owned, but Yama contended that the relevant evidence was on the record of the companion antidumping duty investigation.

CIT found that the two companion cases constituted two separate proceedings, and the burden was on the respondents to place the information from the AD investigation on the record of the CV investigation. Furthermore, because the information was business proprietary, the ITA would have violated its own regulations by acting on its own accord to place the relevant evidence on the CV investigation record.

(Yama Ribbons and Bows Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT Slip Op. 12-117, dated 09/14/2012, Judge Pogue)

(Attorneys: John Kenkel of DeKieffer & Horgan for plaintiff Yama; Renee Gerber for defendant U.S. government; Gregory Dorris of Pepper Hamilton for defendant-intervenor Berwick Offray)