US, Steel Companies Say Toss Case Challenging ITC's Decision Not to Start CCR
Turkish exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari's complaint challenging the International Trade Commission's decision not to institute a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Turkey should be dismissed because it's moot after the ITC subsequently decided to conduct a sunset review, the U.S. and five U.S. steel companies led by Cleveland-Cliffs argued in a pair of briefs (Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari v. U.S. International Trade Commission, CIT # 22-00350).
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Erdemir had requested the changed circumstances review so the ITC could revisit its original AD injury proceeding after the Commerce Department calculated a zero percent rate for a different company, Colakoglu, following litigation at the Court of International Trade. During the original proceeding for the concurrent countervailing duty investigation, the ITC had found imports from Turkey negligible because Colakoglu had been excluded from Commerce's CVD case.
As the CIT decision was retroactive to the original investigation, Erdemir sought to have the ITC apply similar treatment in its AD injury proceeding, but the ITC denied the request, resulting in the present court action (see 2212270053).
The steel companies intervened in the matter and now claim the case should be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. The steel companies said the ITC's authority to conduct CCRs is "prospective in nature and does not authorize the Commission to grant the relief sought in this action -- i.e., a retroactive reexamination of negligibility in the original [investigation] and reversal of the Commission’s finding that dumped imports from Turkey were not negligible during the period of investigation."
The government also argued that the ITC's decision to start full sunset reviews of the orders "gave Erdemir the equivalent of a changed circumstances review." The U.S. said that if CIT doesn't agree that the claim became moot, then the court should dismiss this case since a CCR does not allow the ITC to "reanalyze its findings from the original determination or to revisit its negligibility determination."