Opinion ID: 766090
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Alleged Sample and Sporadic Sales

Text: 9 Under 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(a)(1)(A) (1988), FMV is the price at which such or similar merchandise is sold or, in the absence of sales, offered for sale in the principal markets of the country from which exported, . . . in the ordinary course of trade for home consumption (emphasis added). As defined by statute: 10 The term ordinary course of trade means the conditions and practices which, for a reasonable time prior to the exportation of the merchandise which is the subject of an investigation, have been normal in the trade under consideration with respect to merchandise of the same class or kind. 11 19 U.S.C. § 1677(15) (1988). 12 In the Final Results, Commerce included as home market sales in the ordinary course of trade certain sales identified by NTN as sample sales and sales with sporadic sales histories. Commerce reasoned that NTN's mere designation of certain sales as sample sales did not satisfy its burden of proving that the sales were made outside of the ordinary course of trade. See Final Results, 60 Fed. Reg. at 10,947. Similarly, Commerce rejected NTN's claim that certain sales of small quantities of products with sporadic sales histories were outside of the ordinary course of trade, explaining that such sales histories are typical of certain types of products. Id. 13 In NSK I, the Court of International Trade remanded to Commerce for a redetermination in light of this court's ruling in NSK, Ltd. v. United States, 115 F.3d 965, 973-75 (Fed. Cir. 1997), that samples given without consideration do not constitute sales under the antidumping statute. In its Remand Results, Commerce explained that certain of the transactions labeled by NTN as sample and other similar transfers were, in fact, transfers in which monetary consideration was paid for the bearings. Consequently, the Court of International Trade amended its prior ruling in NSK I to order Commerce only to exclude those transactions for which NTN received no consideration. Commerce complied with this instruction on remand and its determinations were sustained by NSK II. 14 We are not persuaded that substantial evidence does not support Commerce's determination that NTN failed to meet its burden to prove that the alleged sample and sporadic sales were sales outside of the ordinary course of trade. The evidence submitted by NTN consisted of its records indicating sales of samples under the term SAMPLEH and sporadic sales under the term NORDCH. The sales designated by NTN as sporadic were simply those in which there were seven or less transactions in the total review period with three or less units per transaction. No evidence was submitted that the process of ordering or shipping these alleged sample or sporadic sales differed from ordinary sales. Nor was evidence submitted that any of these sales required, for example, unique engineering specifications. Moreover, no evidence was submitted that the alleged sample sales for which monetary consideration was paid, differed in any material respect, other than by their designation as SAMPLEH, from ordinary sales of the same merchandise for monetary consideration. Thus, given our deferential standard of review, we cannot say that Commerce's finding of a failure of proof was unsupported by substantial evidence.