Exporter Says Plain Scope Language Excludes Horizontal Engine From AD/CVD Orders

A horizontal lawnmower engine should be excluded from the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain vertical shaft engines between 99cc and up to 225cc from China, given the plain language of the orders' scope excludes horizontal engines, exporter Zhejiang Amerisun Technology Co. argued in a Feb. 21 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Zhejiang Amerisun Technology Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00011).

The orders cover merchandise consisting of "spark-ignited, non-road, vertical shaft engines, whether finished or unfinished, whether assembled or unassembled, whether mounted or unmounted, primarily for, but not limited to, walk-behind lawnmowers." The orders explicitly say that the engines are "spark ignition, single-cylinder, air cooled, internal combustion engines with vertical power take off shafts with a minimum displacement of 99 cubic centimeters (cc) and a maximum displacement of up to, but not including, 225cc, and which typically generate gross power between 1.95 kilowatts (kw) to 4.75 kw."

AD/CVD petitioner Briggs & Stratton filed a scope ruling request over modified vertical shaft engines. After Commerce initiated the scope inquiry, Zhejiang Amerisun said that its product, the R210-S engine, is a horizontal shaft engine and thus not subject to the orders. Commerce ruled that the R210-S is a modified vertical shaft engine and therefore subject to the duties since, as laid out in the scope, the part of the engine that the scope says must have a vertical orientation is not the crankshaft but the power take off shaft.

Zhejiang Amerisun, in its complaint, said that the mechanism in its R210-S engine that provides power to the engine is a "horizontal crankshaft that operates as a horizontal power take off shaft, rather than a vertical one." The company said that it showed that the horizontal power take off shaft generates the power, turning a gear that turns a vertical transmission shaft connected by belt to another vertical drive shaft. The exporter claimed that this gearbox is not part of the engine but attached to the lawnmower and "used exclusively to transmit the power from the horizontal power take off shaft to turn the mowing blade and does not affect the essential and intrinsic characteristics of the horizontal shaft engine."

As a result, the R210-S engine should not be included in the scope of the AD/CVD orders, the complaint said. "The scope clearly and explicitly applied the Orders to vertical shaft engines, with vertical power take off shafts. The Orders make no mention of the existence of modified vertical shaft engines, nor did they indicate that the scope included engines with a horizontal power take off shaft. The Orders also indicate that if the subject engines are imported mounted on outdoor power equipment, like a lawnmower, then only the engine is covered by the scope."