Voluntary Remand Granted in AD Case Over Errors in Respondent's Reported Sales Price

The Court of International Trade granted the Commerce Department's motion to lift a stay and voluntarily remand an antidumping duty case to give the agency a chance to consider new information showing inaccuracies in the mandatory respondent's reported sales prices, CIT said in a Sept. 20 order. The inaccuracies are based on potential fraud and Commerce has an interest in making sure the proceedings are free of fraud, the trade court said.

The case involves the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China and was brought by Pirelli Tyre Co., which had received the all-others rate in the review. The review tapped Shandong New Continent as the mandatory respondent, finding a zero percent dumping margin for the exporter. Following the review, CBP alerted Commerce to certain inaccuracies in SNC's reported sales prices on imports of the covered tires (see 2107260023).

Pirelli backed the lifting of the stay, since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reached a conclusion in the case China Manufacturers Alliance v. U.S. that had implications for Pirelli's case. In China Manufacturers Alliance, the Federal Circuit held that the adverse facts available country-wide rate can apply to cooperative respondents (see 2106100044). The court cited the resolution of the case as the reason for the stay to be lifted.

Where Pirelli did not consent to Commerce's motion was on the question of the voluntary remand. The plaintiff argued that since SNC's calculated rate has nothing to do with Pirelli, it need not be considered in Pirelli's case (see 2108090031). Ultimately, the court disagreed, finding that the scope of the remand request was valid since calculating SNC's rate as the sole mandatory respondent could be relevant if Pirelli were to succeed in the case.

"Because Defendant’s remand request is based on alleged inaccuracies and potential fraud, and the Government has a substantial and legitimate interest in protecting the integrity of its proceedings from fraud, the Court concludes that Defendant has provided a compelling justification for its remand request," Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said.

The court also granted SNC's motion to intervene in the case. SNC said that it did not immediately move to join the litigation since its antidumping rate wasn't at issue until the voluntary remand motion was filed.

(Pirelli Tyre Co., Ltd., et al. v. United States, Slip Op. 21-122, CIT # 20-00115, dated 09/20/21, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves. Attorneys: Daniel Porter of Curtis Mallet-Prevost for plaintiff Pirelli; Ashley Akers for defendant U.S. government)