Country-of-Origin Appeal Ruling Favors Steel Mills

A ruling that will assist in the enforcing measures against circumvention was approved this week by the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court ruled that the “substantial transformation analysis” is approved for use by Commerce in determining country-of-origin for products subject to antidumping and countervailing duties. The substantial transformation test determines if a product from one country is substantially changed by processing done in another country, thereby changing its country-of-origin designation. The ruling was a win for U.S. steel companies that presented the appeal to the court.

Bell Supply challenged a Commerce Department ruling in 2014 that green tubes produced in China and finished as OCTG in third countries were “not substantially transformed during the finishing process, even if that process includes heat treatment” and, therefore, were still products originating in China.