Exporter Contests Commerce’s Rejection of 'Duplicative' Scope Ruling Application

An exporter Jan. 26 asked the Court of International Trade to review the Commerce Department’s rejection of a scope ruling application that the agency said was duplicative (Deer Park Glycine, LLC v. U.S., CIT # 24-00016).

The exporter, Deer Park Glycine, filed its complaint seeking judicial review of Commerce’s Dec. 28 rejection of a scope ruling application filed by GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. The application asked Commerce to rule on whether calcium glycinate is covered by AD/CVD orders on glycine from India, Japan, Thailand and China.

Deer Park, a domestic producer of glycine, has just taken over GEO and now owns and operates its glycine business, the complaint said. It said GEO was a respondent to the AD/CVD review in question.

Deer Park said it filed an application in August 2023 asking whether calcium glycinate is covered by the scope of the orders, and Commerce found that it was. Deer Park filed a second scope ruling request Nov. 29 for the the same product, including additional evidence, and Commerce rejected it, calling it “duplicative” and “otherwise unacceptable.”

“Because Commerce rejected the scope ruling application based on the finding that it was duplicative, Plaintiff has no ability to cure the deficiency identified by Commerce and resubmit the scope ruling application,” Deer Park said. “By rejecting the application on this basis, Commerce foreclosed for the Plaintiff the opportunity to resubmit its application.”