UKCG Says U.S. Court of International Trade Finding In Antidumping Circumvention Case Conflicts With EU Rulings On Product Origin

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 30, 2013, the U.S. Court of International Trade held that small diameter graphite electrodes manufactured by U.K. Carbon & Graphite, Ltd. ("UKCG") in the UK from Chinese rod are products of China for purposes of US antidumping law. This is contrary to rulings by UK authorities, which found them to be of UK origin. This case did not involve electrodes over 16 inches in diameter. The appeal was due to a conflict between the law in the UK (and the EU) and how the law is being interpreted in the United States. UKCG had argued that rods had been excluded from the case, and that the U.S Commerce Department had made various errors in calculating the value added in the U.K., including refusing to use actual costs of UKCG but rather using "surrogate" costs.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the Commerce Department has broad discretion to make its decision and that the Court would not go into the details of the agency decision. As a result, the small diameter graphite electrodes must be declared to be products of the UK for the purpose of country of origin marking in the United States and in other countries (or be in violation of UK and US origin rulings), but also must be declared as Chinese for the purpose of the U.S. dumping case. 

The case will not result in UKCG having to pay any additional duties or penalties but will result in UKCG having to declare certain products as subject to the U.S. dumping order if it were to import such products into the U.S. While UKCG believes that this conflict in laws should have been resolved differently, UKCG's success with its business model will not be affected because the United States government has made clear that other products (including any over 16 inches in diameter and any produced from non-Chinese rods) are not subject to the dumping order. Thus, UKCG will continue to serve its customers as it has in the past with the same reliable service and quality.

SOURCE Barnes, Richardson & Colburn