Two Cylinders Excludes Engines From Small Vertical Shaft Engine ADD/CVD Orders, Commerce Says
Dual-piston engines with a single combustion chamber but two separate cylinders with their own pistons and connecting rods are not covered by antidumping and countervailing duties on vertical shaft engines between 99 cc and up to 225 cc from China (A-570-124/C-570-125), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling.
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Briggs and Stratton, petitioner in the case, had argued the dual-piston engines imported by FNA Group are in effect a “split version” of a single-cylinder engine, and that a true two-cylinder engine would have separate cylinder heads, spark ignitions and intake and exhaust valves for each cylinder, as well as an offset firing cylinder.
Commerce disagreed. The scope of the AD/CVD orders on small vertical shaft engines says the orders cover “single-cylinder, air-cooled, internal combustion engines … .” Commerce said it is “not concerned” with whether FNA’s engine is a “split-single engine, “but whether it contains more than a single cylinder.” The agency found “FNA’s engine contains two pistons, which move up and down within cylindrical chambers.”