Tapered Roller Bearing Importer Files Suit Against Commerce's Scope Ruling on Chinese Imports

The Commerce Department's decision to include importer Precision Components' goods in the scope of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings from China cuts against the "clear language of the scope" and Commerce's "historic treatment of the scope," Precision said in a Nov. 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Precision Components v. United States, CIT # 23-00218).

The case was filed to contest Commerce's Sept. 20 scope ruling. Precision said Commerce is allowed to interpret the scope of an AD order but it "cannot enlarge the scope of the order through such interpretation." The scope language's "plain meaning" controls the scope.

"Where the plain language excludes rings imported prior to heat treatment, the inclusion of such rings within the scope of the order is an impermissible enlargement," Precision said, noting that its rings are "not heat-treated prior to importation." Commerce's finding that these rings are subject to the order violates the plain scope language, the company said.