U.S. Commerce Rescinds CMC Bearing Duties

The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Import Administration, has ruled on appeal that the general antidumping duty order and rate on tapered roller bearings and parts from China does not include CMC. China is considered a non-market economy (NME) because most manufacturing and methods of production are under direct control of the central communist government and its agencies. The Department, when it deals with non-market economies such as China, "begins with a rebuttable presumption that all companies within the country are subject to government control, and, thus, should be assigned a single antidumping duty deposit rate. It is the Department's policy to assign all exporters of merchandise subject to review in an NME country this single rate unless an exporter can demonstrate that it is free of dejure and de facto control over its export decisions, so as to be entitled to a separate rate." CMC (China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation) successfully rebutted the governmental control assumption and a brief by Timken. The Department found that CMC did prove it was not under China's government control. Items covered by the finding are tapered roller bearings: flange, take-up cartridge, and hanger units, tapered roller housings (except pillow blocks) with or without spindles. Accordingly, CMC margins were calculated and compared to the "surrogate" company in a non-NME market economy, SKF India Ltd. in this case, and assigned CMC a 0% dumping margin. The cash deposit rate for all non-individually-determined manufacturers and bearings from China is 60.95%.