US, Exporters Dismiss CAFC Appeal on Solar Cell CVD Review

The U.S. and exporters led by Risen Energy Co. agreed July 8 to dismiss a case on the 2017 review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1524). The government appealed the Court of International Trade decision siding with Risen on the agency's land benchmark calculation and use of adverse facts available pertaining to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (see 2312200026) (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03912).

Gregory Menegaz, counsel for Risen, said in an email that the U.S. sought the dismissal, suggesting that it was due to the "bad facts" for the U.S. in the review.

The trade court previously sent back Commerce's land benchmark formula for violating the scope of an earlier remand, telling the agency to use the calculation from its first remand. In that proceeding, Commerce used a 2010 Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) land report to set the benchmark. Reverting to this calculation, Commerce said it intends to "re-evaulate its methodology for" calculating the benchmark "in future segments of its countervailing duty proceedings."

The result dropped the CVD rate for Risen from 9.69% to 4.2%.