Window Wall Units Aren't Curtain Walls, Get Finished Goods Kit AD Duty Exemption, Commerce Says

Window wall kits imported by Reflection Window + Wall are not 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 issued April 26. The window wall kits qualify for the finished goods kit exemption, and are distinct from curtain wall units ineligible for exemptions from aluminum extrusions duties, Commerce said.

Reflection’s window wall kits include glass and metal panels, as well as head, sill and jamb receptors that sit above, below and on the sides of each window wall panel and include extruded aluminum and non-extruded aluminum parts, such as trim and gaskets. They also include a slab cover, which may be made from a one-piece aluminum extrusion. The window wall panels span from the top of a floor slab to the underside of the building’s next higher floor slab. The kits are imported in separate packages but come in on the same CBP Form 7501.

Commerce found that the kits include all necessary parts to be assembled “as is” into a finished product. The agency also found that the kits include both extruded aluminum and non-extruded aluminum parts, besides just fasteners, and are imported together because they are listed on the same entry summary. Meeting all requirements, the kits qualify for the finished goods kits exclusion, the agency said.

The Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee -- petitioner in the AD/CVD proceedings on aluminum extrusions -- argued that the window wall kits are not eligible for the finished goods kit exemption because they are curtain wall units. Commerce found they are different, in that Reflection’s window wall kits do not make up the whole facade of a building, but rather are inserted into the opening between floor slabs.

Nonetheless, Commerce determined to take “a cautious approach to this issue by ensuring that the products subject to this scope ruling are defined as designed to fit into the aperture of a wall and not to vertically span a greater distance than from the top of one floor slab to the underside of the next higher floor slab, and such distance is no greater than 15 feet,” it said. “This limitation serves to ensure that each of Reflection’s window wall systems subject to this scope ruling is small enough that it cannot connect with other window wall systems to cover the entirety of a building’s facade and compose a type of curtain wall.”