PVC Door Gaskets With Magnetic Band Not Subject to China Flexible Magnets Duties, Commerce Says
PVC door gaskets imported by Rehau that include a magnetic band encased within are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on raw flexible magnets from China (A-570-922/C-570-923), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. Though the scope of the orders mentions flexible magnets that have been laminated or bonded with other components, the magnets float freely within the door gaskets and are not covered by the scope, Commerce said.
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The extruded PVC gaskets at issue in the ruling, intended for use on refrigerator doors, have a pocket that encases a magnetic band, but the band is not permanently affixed to the gasket by an adhesive, a heat process or pressure, Commerce said. The scope of the AD/CVD orders on flexible magnets say subject magnets “may or may not be fully or partially laminated or fully or partially bonded with paper, plastic, or other material.”
Commerce had previously considered the issue of magnets incorporated into other merchandise in a scope ruling it issued to Medical Action Industries in 2011. In that ruling, Commerce said the scope clearly covers magnets bonded with other materials but doesn't equate bonding with confinement. “The fact the magnets were enclosed inside the plastic sheets in a static relationship did not constitute a type of bonding,” Commerce said.
Here, Commerce found the door gasket imported by Rehau was “similar to the surgical instrument drapes examined in the MAI Scope Ruling, in that the door gasket is not permanently affixed or bonded to the extruded PVC gasket but, rather, is encased inside the PVC gasket,” the agency said. “Further, the magnet is encased inside the PVC gasket without the use of any chemical bonding process,” it said. “We find the door gasket at issue does not consist of flexible magnets that are bonded or limited to other material.”