Window Shutters From Dominican Republic Covered by China Aluminum Extrusions AD/CV Duties, Commerce Says

Window shutters manufactured in the Dominican Republic from Chinese aluminum extrusions are still subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling filed Oct. 16. The agency found that the processing in the Dominican Republic was minor, and the Chinese parts did not undergo a substantial transformation conferring Dominican origin.

The scope ruling comes amid increased focus on processing in third-countries of Chinese extrusions, especially in the Dominican Republic and Southeast Asia (See 1910090035). In the case of the jalousie shutters, Commerce had initiated an anti-circumvention inquiry to determine whether the Dominican processing operations were attempts to get around AD/CV duties (see 1905030039). Commerce had even considered extending its inquiry to all aluminum extrusions from the Dominican Republic. But after finding the jalousie shutters covered by the scope, Commerce will now end that anti-circumvention inquiry as moot.

The jalousie shutters at issue are made from window frame extrusions from China. Jalousie shutters are glass-less louver windows made from parallel aluminum slats set in a frame, joined to an aluminum track and tilted open or shut to control air flow. As exported from the Dominican Republic, the shutters don’t have an operating mechanism or crank, both of which are added after importation into the United States.

Commerce first considered whether, as exported from China, the window frame extrusions would have been subject to AD/CV duties. It found that the extrusions are directly covered by scope language identifying “shapes and forms, produced by an extrusion process,” that are “parts for final finished products that are assembled after importation.” The scope specifically names window frames in this category.

And the frames don’t undergo a substantial transformation in the Dominican Republic prior to importation into the U.S., Commerce said. The window frames and window shutters are both in the same class or kind of goods, and the essential component is still the window frame extrusion after the Dominican processing operation, it said. Also, the processing operation itself is not “complex or extensive, especially when compared to the processes involved in the manufacture of aluminum extrusion profiles,” Commerce said.

Finally, Commerce concluded that the jalousie shutters, as imported into the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, are not eligible for any exemptions from the AD/CV duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Exemptions for finished merchandise and finished goods kits cover goods that are either ready for their final use or include all parts necessary for that final function, respectively. As the jalousie shutters are imported into the U.S. without an operating mechanism or window frame, they aren’t ready for use as jalousie shutters, Commerce said.

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of this scope ruling.