Commerce Finds More Insulated Staples Outside Scope of China Staples Duties
Insulated staples imported by Stanley Black & Decker are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on collated steel staples from China (A-570-112/C-570-113), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling issued June 8. As in a previous scope ruling on Chinese staples, the agency found Stanley’s insulated staples are collated in a manner different from that set out in the original AD duty petition.
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The insulated staples imported by Stanley comprise a steel staple contained in a plastic insulator. The staples are not directly connected to one another, but rather the insulators are attached to form a strip of staples with a space between each individual insulator measuring 0.5 mm in width.
Stanley argued that the insulated staples should be found out of scope because the language of the scope does not apply to insulated staples. It also said that the fact that they are collated is a secondary function incidental to the stapes, and that the way in which the staples are collated is different from those covered by the AD/CVD orders. Kyocera Senco, the domestic concern that filed that original petition, did not contest Stanley’s scope request.
Commerce disagreed that the orders do not cover insulated staples. "As the scope language refers to 'any material or combination of materials' used to collate the staples, the plastic insulators that are used with these staples could be considered within the scope of the Orders due to the broadness of the scope language,” Commerce said.
But the way that the insulated staples are collated differs from descriptions of subject merchandise in the petition. “The Petitions describe the merchandise by outlining two different production processes for producing collated steel staples, both of which use glue, adhesive, and/or paper tape to collate and cohere the staples to form a finished strip of staples,” Commerce said. “The insulated cable staples at issue do not use glue, adhesive, and/or paper tape to collate and cohere the staples. Instead, the staples are individually and separately inserted into a strip of plastic insulators with a distinct space between each staple,’ it said.
“We find that the … insulated cable staples are separated from one another by distinct space created by the plastic insulators and, therefore, are not collated and cohered as the merchandise described in the Petitions,” Commerce said.