AD Petitioner Hints at Full Court Rehearing Over PMS Adjustment Question at Federal Circuit

Antidumping duty petitioner and defendant-appellant Welspun Tubular filed an unopposed motion Dec. 28 for an extension of time to request a full-court rehearing on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision that the Commerce Department can no longer make a particular market situation adjustment to an AD respondent's cost of production in a sales-below-cost test for the purposes of calculating normal value (see 2112100039). The ruling affirmed a host of Court of International Trade opinions that said the PMS adjustment is reserved solely for constructed value. Petitions for en banc rehearings in the case are due Jan. 9, and Welspun is requesting that this deadline be pushed to Feb. 8 (Hyundai Steel v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #21-1748).

Welspun characterized the appeal as one that is "critically important" to the petitioner and many other domestic producers of goods subject to antidumping duty orders. "The Federal Circuit’s December 10, 2021 opinion finding that the amendments do not provide the authority that Commerce invoked to make its adjustment has broad implications for this case as well as many others," the motion said. The time extension is needed so that Welspun's counsel can determine if the decision runs contrary to any U.S. Supreme Court or Federal Circuit precedent, the petition argued.