March 21, 2019

Wauconda, Illinois -- The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its opinion and order in the latest appeal concerning whether curtain wall units are included in the scope of the Aluminum Extruders Council’s trade case against the Chinese aluminum extrusion industry that provides for the collection of anti-dumping and countervailing duties upon importation into the U.S.
 In this order the court said, “We have been pointed to no evidence that made it unreasonable for Commerce to find … that the units at issue are not excluded from the Anti-Dumping (AD) and Countervailing Duty (CVD) Orders, but are within their scope….  For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the Court of International Trade.” The Order excludes “finished good kits” from the tariffs and defines a “finished good kit” as a packaged combination of parts that, at the time of importation, can be assembled “as is” into the finished product without further finishing and fabrication.  The Court agreed with Commerce that Yuanda’s imported curtain wall units are not an excluded kit, because Yuanda’s imports are missing some of the parts needed to construct the finished good (the complete curtain wall) and because the imported parts required further finishing and fabrication.

This affirmation by the courts could not have been accomplished without the concerted efforts of the Northern California Glass Management Association (NCGMA) and its supporters and their tireless pursuit of what is fair and equitable.

Tom Black, President and Chief Operations Officer with Walters and Wolf, Seattle, said “We are pleased with the Court’s decision in this case. “After years of litigation tactics by the Chinese companies, the courts have conclusively ruled that aluminum extrusions are covered by the AEC’s orders in curtain wall end-use applications. Our efforts now turn to enforcement to derail the circumvention stunts employed by the Chinese companies to avoid paying the tariffs and duties”

Guy Charpentier, Division Marketing Director with Bonnell Aluminum, added, “This is a major victory for the AEC, the Curtain Wall Coalition, and the industry.  Curtain wall applications are the largest sub-segment of extrusion consumption in the building and construction space.  A loss at the court level in this matter would have had severe and negative impacts to the aluminum extrusion industry and to the curtain wall market.”

For more information about this case and other matters related to the Curtain Wall Coalition, click here.