Vanguard's Recycled Countertop Slabs Covered by AD/CVD Orders on Quartz Countertops
Fritech slabs, which are waste mineral-based surface products manufactured by Vanguard Trading Company, are covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on quartz surface products from China because they are predominantly made of silica, the Commerce Department said in a Jan. 29 scope ruling.
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The slabs combine a resin binder with an “aggregate” of recycled waste materials that become synthetic frit when heated to a high enough temperature, Commerce said. Vanguard describes fritech as “made from silicate materials where silica … is not the material of chief weight,” it said.
“All laboratory results provided by [Vanguard] for the purpose of its scope application are not subject to public summarization,” the department added.
Commerce said it first looked to whether silica was the material of chief weight in the products, but found that lab reporting was inconclusive. It next went to Vanguard’s patent, which the company placed on the record, it said. That showed fritech was 60% to 80% silica by mass percent.
Vanguard did include a qualifier with its patent that its actual products may differ from the standard chemical composition in the patent, Commerce said.
“While specific samples of [Vanguard's] product may be outside the scope of the Orders, the standard to which [Vanguard] is manufacturing its fritech -- a waste mineral-based surface product -- is within the scope of the Orders,” it said.