Opinion ID: 798878
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: SEZ Act

Text: Essar also appeals the trial court's decision to uphold countervailing duties for benefits received under the SEZ Act. Though Essar acknowledges that it was eligible for subsidies under the SEZ Act at some point and that it did receive SEZ benefits during the period of review, it argues that the subject merchandise was ineligible because it was produced before the date on which Essar's eligibility for SEZ Act benefits took effect. Accordingly, Essar urges that the benefits should be tied only to merchandise produced or exported after this date. Because none of its subject merchandise was produced after that date, Essar argues that no countervailing duty should be imposed. Commerce's regulations state that [i]f a subsidy is tied to the production or sale of a particular product, the Secretary will attribute the subsidy only to that product. 19 C.F.R. § 351.525(b)(5)(i). However, no evidence exists to support tying the benefits under the SEZ Act only to particular products. In the absence of such evidence, Commerce was correct to apply the subsidies to all products exported by Essar. See 19 C.F.R. § 351.525(b)(2). That is precisely what Commerce did here. Finally, Essar argues that Commerce should not have imposed any countervailing duties under the SEZ Act because it does not produce any subject merchandise in the SEZ area and therefore cannot benefit from the SEZ Act. As the trial court correctly held, this argument fails because Essar has not exhausted its administrative remedies. Essar did not raise this argument before Commerce and is thus precluded from raising it for the first time at the Court of International Trade. See Dorbest Ltd. v. United States, 604 F.3d 1363, 1375 (Fed.Cir.2010). We agree that substantial evidence supports Commerce's decision to impose countervailing duties on Essar for benefits received under the SEZ Act.