CBP Drops Evasion Finding on Wooden Bedroom Furniture Importer After Scope Referral
CBP reversed its finding that importer Zinus evaded the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China on remand at the Court of International Trade. CBP made the decision after incorporating a scope ruling from the Commerce Department finding that seven models of metal and wood platform beds imported by Zinus aren't covered by the AD order (Zinus v. United States, CIT # 23-00272).
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At issue were seven models of beds imported by Zinus, which CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings found to be subject to the order. Applying a previous scope ruling from Commerce on products from the University Loft Company, CBP found "the use of wood products in the beds to be extensive" and the "wood products to be integral to the composition of the beds."
But following a scope referral, Commerce used the University Loft ruling to come to the opposite conclusion, finding that the "use of wood products was not extensive in the beds." The agency also said the wood components aren't integral to Zinus' "platform bed compositions to an extent that if the wood was removed, the resulting products would be substantially different from the original products."
CBP reviewed the scope decision and, as a result, said Zinus didn't evade the AD order since its products were not in the order's scope. However, Zinus also imported "Suzanne/Ironline models" of beds, which were not analyzed in the scope referral. After reviewing the "appearance, construction, and specifications" of the model, CBP said it contains a metal frame and wooden headboard and footboard similar to the other models Commerce found to be outside the scope of the order. Thus, CBP said those shipments weren't subject to the order as well.