CAFC Denies Tire Exporters' Bid for Separate Briefs in Case on State Control Analysis

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 13 denied requests from exporters Guizhou Tyre and Aeolus Tyre to waive the requirement that they file a joint brief in an antidumping duty case (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2163).

Following its decision on its own initiative to consolidate the companies' appeals, the appellate court said the exporters failed to provide good cause to depart from the single-brief requirement or, in the alternative, de-consolidate the cases. The court noted that the companies could move to expand the word count or increase the number of confidentiality markings if needed.

Both companies are challenging the Commerce Department's determination that they both failed to rebut the presumption of state control in the 2014-15 review of the AD order on new pneumatic off-the-road tires from China. In a pair of opening briefs, the companies said that Commerce's analysis of whether a company from a non-market economy has rebutted the presumption of foreign state control was improperly applied to exporters that are minority owned by state-owned enterprises (see 2310310048).