Opinion ID: 210161
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Commerce's Zeroing of Negative Dumping Margins

Text: On appeal, NSK, NTN, and Koyo each challenge Commerce's long-standing practice of zeroing negative dumping margins when computing antidumping duties. Under the antidumping statute, Commerce is required to impose antidumping duties on imported merchandise that is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value to the detriment of a domestic industry. 19 U.S.C. § 1673. Commerce calculates these antidumping duties by first calculating the amount by which the price a producer charges for the subject merchandise in its home market, i.e., the normal value, exceeds the price charged in the United States, i.e., the export price. This amount is referred to as the dumping margin. Commerce then calculates a weighted average of the dumping margins for the producer/exporter by dividing the aggregate dumping margins for that producer/exporter by the aggregate export prices charged by that producer/exporter. Id. § 1677(35)(B). Occasionally, the price charged for the subject merchandise in the United States is greater than the price charged for the same merchandise in the home market. This results in a negative dumping margin for that merchandise. In these situations, Commerce sets the negative dumping margins to zero when calculating the weighted average dumping margin. By doing so, the sum of the dumping margins calculated on the individual transactions is not reduced by the negative amount of the dumping margins. This practice is referred to as zeroing and has been repeatedly upheld by this court. See, e.g., Timken Co. v. United States, 354 F.3d 1334 (Fed.Cir.2004), cert. denied 543 U.S. 976, 125 S.Ct. 412, 160 L.Ed.2d 352 (2004); Corus Staal BV v. Dep't of Commerce, 395 F.3d 1343 (Fed.Cir.2005), cert. denied 546 U.S. 1089, 126 S.Ct. 1023, 163 L.Ed.2d 853 (2006); Corus Staal BV v. United States, 502 F.3d 1370 (Fed.Cir.2007). Recently, however, the Government of Japan initiated a World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge of Commerce's zeroing practice. On January 9, 2007, the WTO Appellate Body issued a decision in which it found that Commerce's zeroing practice, as applied to the administrative review at issue in this case, is inconsistent with the United States' international obligations. See Appellate Body Report, United States  Measures Relating to Zeroing and Sunset Reviews, WT/DS322/AB/R (Jan. 9, 2007). The WTO Dispute Resolution Body adopted this decision on January 23, 2007. In response, on February 20, 2007, the United States issued a statement that it intends to comply in this dispute with its WTO obligations and will be considering carefully how to do so. See Press Release, U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, U.S. Statements at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body, Delivered by David P. Shark, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Mission to the WTO (Feb. 20, 2007). In light of this statement, NSK, NTN, and Koyo seek to have this case remanded to Commerce to allow the agency to implement the WTO decision. Commerce, however, opposes such a remand. Although Commerce has stated that it intends to comply with its WTO obligations, it contends that it only plans to discontinue zeroing in investigations, not in administrative reviews such as this one. As stated by this court in Corus Staal, we . . . refuse to overturn Commerce's zeroing practice based on any ruling by the WTO or other international body unless and until such ruling has been adopted pursuant to the specified statutory scheme. 395 F.3d at 1349; cf. Suramerica de Aleaciones Laminadas, C.A. v. United States, 966 F.2d 660, 668 (Fed.Cir.1992) (While we acknowledge Congress's interest in complying with U.S. responsibilities under the GATT, we are bound not by what we think Congress should or perhaps wanted to do, but by what Congress in fact did.). In this case, despite Commerce's public statement that it intended to comply with its WTO obligations, the WTO decision rejecting zeroing has not yet been implemented by Commerce. Moreover, the manner in which the WTO decision will be implemented by Commerce is far from clear, as illustrated by the parties' disagreement over whether Commerce will (or should) apply the WTO decision to administrative reviews such as this one. Situations such as this are just one example of the reasons this court refrains from commenting on international body decisions unless and until they have been adopted pursuant to the specified statutory scheme. Unless and until that happens, this court has nothing to review. For similar reasons, a remand in this case would not be proper. Although a remand may afford the parties more time for Commerce to implement the WTO decision, Commerce has already stated that such a remand would not result in the outcome Koyo, NTN, and NSK desire, i.e., the implementation of the WTO decision in this administrative review. Accordingly, until Commerce abandons zeroing in administrative reviews such as this one, a remand in this case would be unavailing. Therefore, because Commerce's zeroing practice is in accordance with our well-established precedent, until Commerce officially abandons the practice pursuant to the specified statutory scheme, we affirm its continued use in this case.