CIT Judge Questions Use of First Sale on Goods From China, Other Non-Market Economies

The Court of International Trade on March 1 issued a decision calling into question the ability to use first sale valuation on transactions involving non-market economies, including China. In a case on cookware imported by Meyer from a Chinese affiliate, CIT Senior Judge Thomas Aquilino held Meyer did not adequately prove that the sales were free of “any distortive nonmarket influences,” as required by a 1992 Federal Circuit decision on first sale involving Nissho Iwai.

“As a result of its consideration of the issues presented here, this court has doubts over the extent to which, if any, the ‘first sale’ test of Nissho Iwai was intended to be applied to transactions involving non-market economy participants or inputs,” said Aquilino. “In that regard, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit could provide clarification.”