Exercise Equipment Parts Outside of Carbon Steel AD Order

Front foot and front foot caster assemblies for exercise equipment imported by Concept2 are outside the scope of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from China, the Commerce Department said in a Sept. 25 scope ruling.

The two parts at issue were the BikeErg front foot, a 2.278 mm thick hot-rolled pickled and oiled steel sheet, bent along its width four times to form a C shape with rounded corners, and an assembly comprising that part along with left and right large foot caster assemblies and fasteners.

Commerce found that the scope language was clear and that by its plain language, the parts were outside of the scope.

Commerce noted various examples of exclusions in the order, including one excluding “non-rectangular shapes, not in coils, which are the result of having been processed by cutting or stamping and which have assumed the character of articles or products classified outside chapter 72 of the HTSUS.” Commerce found that the BikeErg front foot part was excluded because it met all the requirements by being not in coils and non-rectangular in addition to being processed via cutting and included in another article. "While the physical and chemical characteristics of the steel sheet used in the production ... meet the requirements of the scope of the Order, the finished product does not."

The second item at issue, the front foot with large caster assembly piece, Commerce also found to be outside the scope of the order because it included the front foot part as part of its assembly and so was also transformed into an article outside Chapter 72.

Domestic interested parties Nucor Corporation, SSAB Enterprises and Steel Dynamics commented that one of the parts has four rounded corners that Concept2 didn't show to be the result of cutting or stamping. The processing involved was so minor it could "open a harmful loophole in the coverage of the order" if the scope were granted, the companies argued. In its ruling, Commerce noted the ruling is limited to specific products and was based on "specific characteristics of the products at issue."