Petition Filed for New AD/CV Duties on Geogrid Products From China
Tansar Corporation filed a petition on Jan. 12 with the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping and countervailing duties on biaxial integral geogrid products from China. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on these products, which are used in earth reinforcement and stabilization applications in the construction industry, that could result in the imposition of duties.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Proposed Scope
The petition proposes the following scope for the investigations:
A polymer grid or mesh material (whether or not finished, slit, cut-to-length, attached to woven or non-woven fabric or sheet material, or packaged) in which four-sided openings in the form of squares, rectangles, rhomboids, diamonds, or other four-sided figures predominate. The products covered have strands (which generally have at least some degree of molecular orientation) that constitute the sides of the openings and integral junctions where the strands intersect. The products covered have a tensile strength of greater than 5 kilonewtons per meter ("kN/m") as measured by American Society for Testing and Materials ("ASTM") Standard D66371D6637M in any direction and average overall flexural stiffness of more than 100,000 milligram-centimeter as measured under the ASTM D7748/D7748M Standard Test Method for Flexural Rigidity of Geogrids, Geotextiles and Related Products.
Subject merchandise includes material matching the above description that has been finished, packaged, or otherwise further processed in a third country, including by trimming, slitting, coating, cutting, attaching to woven or non-woven fabric or sheet material, or any other finishing, packaging, or other further processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigations if performed in the country of manufacture of the biaxial integral geogrid.
All products that meet the written physical description are within the scope of these investigations unless specifically excluded. The following products are outside of and/or specifically excluded from the scope of these investigations:
(i) grid or mesh materials comprised of strands (including strands consisting of bundled, coated, or sheathed fibers or filaments) that are:
- (a) woven, knitted, or stitched together;
- (b) mechanically joined (such as through tying, stapling, or use of rings);
- (c) joined together by calendaring, heating, lasers, or welding in such a way as to lack a homogenous or integral junction, such as where strands running in different directions remain mostly in two planes; or
- (d) bonded together with adhesives or other materials; and
(ii) grid or mesh materials wholly comprised of materials other than polypropylene or high density polyethylene.
The products subject to the scope are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTSUS") under the following subheading: 3926.90.99.95. Subject merchandise may also enter under subheadings 3920.20.00.50 and 3925.90.00.00. The HTSUS subheadings set forth above are provided for convenience and U.S. Customs purposes only. The written description of the scope is dispositive.
Commerce Accepting Comments on Petition Support
The Commerce Department is accepting comments on domestic industry support for the petitions to determine whether the petitions meet the dual requirements of support by domestic producers or workers accounting for (1) at least 25% of the total production of the domestic-like product and (2) more than 50% of the production of the domestic-like product produced by that portion of the industry expressing support for, or opposition to, the petition. If the petitions meet these requirements, among others, Commerce will initiate antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. Comments are due by Feb. 1.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the petition.