Door Thresholds Not Automatically Subject to Aluminum Extrusions AD/CV Duties, CIT Says
Door thresholds assembled from aluminum extrusions and non-aluminum components are not always subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China, the Court of International Trade said in an Aug. 27 decision. Reversing positions taken by Commerce in a scope ruling issued in late 2018 (see 1901150033), the trade court found mentions of door thresholds in the scope as subject merchandise only refer to whole aluminum extrusions used as thresholds, and not assemblies containing extruded aluminum.
Commerce had relied on a misinterpretation of the language of the scope of the aluminum extrusions orders to find door thresholds from Columbia Aluminum Products, MJB Wood Group and Worldwide Door were covered by AD/CV duties, CIT said. Among other things, the scope says that, “subject extrusions may be identified with reference to their end use, such as fence posts, electrical conduits, door thresholds, carpet trim, or heat sinks (that do not meet the finished heat sink exclusionary language below). Such goods are subject merchandise if they otherwise meet the scope definition, regardless of whether they are ready for use at the time of importation.”
Commerce said that because door thresholds are explicitly listed as subject merchandise in the scope, they cannot qualify for an exemption for finished merchandise from aluminum extrusions duties. Columbia filed suit at CIT to challenge the scope ruling. CIT agreed that the ruling was in error.
The scope does not say all thresholds are subject merchandise, but that all “subject exclusions … identified with reference to their end use,” including door thresholds, are covered by AD/CV duties. Columbia’s door thresholds are not “subject extrusions,” CIT said. They are “an assembly consisting of various components, including a component fabricated from an aluminum extrusion and various components that are not made of aluminum,” including a plastic extrusion, a bar to permit raising and lowering the threshold, and a wood-filled plastic substrate, said the trade court.
“Columbia’s door thresholds are not 'extrusions': they are not, in the words of the scope language, 'aluminum extrusions which are shapes and forms, produced by an extrusion process,' and they do not, therefore, 'otherwise meet the scope definition,'” CIT said.
As the thresholds are not listed as covered by the scope, Commerce must consider whether they are exempt finished merchandise, CIT said. “Because the premise under which Commerce refused to consider the terms of the finished merchandise exclusion was based on a misinterpretation of the general scope language, which in this case does not expressly identify door thresholds that are assembled from extruded aluminum components and non-aluminum components, Commerce erred in refusing to consider whether the requirements of the finished merchandise exclusion were satisfied.” CIT gave Commerce 90 days to return with a revised scope ruling.