U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Affirms Modification of Antidumping/Countervailing Orders on Quartz Surface Products from China to Address Evasion and Circumvention Through “Crushed Glass”

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (April 25, 2022) – The leading U.S. producer of quartz surface products, Cambria Company LLC (“Cambria”), announces that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the decision by the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) to modify the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty (“AD/CVD”) orders on Quartz Surface Products from China to address potential evasion and circumvention through the shipment of “crushed glass” surfaces.

In April of 2018, Cambria filed petitions before Commerce and the United States International Trade Commission alleging unfair trading of quartz surface products from China. The petitions excluded from their coverage certain “crushed glass” products that are notable for having large pieces of crushed glass visible across their surface. By November of 2018, after Commerce had imposed preliminary AD/CVD duties on imports from China, Chinese producers and exporters had begun marketing a new “quartz glass” product that was made using micronized or powdered glass instead of quartz sand. This new product was virtually identical in appearance to regular quartz surface products. The Chinese producers and exporters claimed they could ship this new product to the United States without the payment of any AD/CVD duties. Cambria brought evidence of this problem to Commerce’s attention, and the agency modified the scope of the AD/CVD investigations to cover these new “quartz glass” products and prevent any further evasion and circumvention.

The U.S. importer Bruskin International LLC brought an appeal at the Federal Circuit challenging Commerce’s authority to modify the scope of the investigations on quartz surface products from China. Cambria participated in this appeal to assist Commerce in defending its decision to modify the scope. On April 25, 2022, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion rejecting each and every basis for Bruskin’s legal challenge. The court’s opinion represents a resounding victory for Cambria and ensures that Chinese producers and exporters will not be able to evade the payment of AD/CVD duties by shifting their production to “crushed glass” products.

“We know that Chinese producers and exporters are constantly on the lookout for loopholes in the AD/CVD orders on quartz surface products from China that would allow them to resume shipping massive volumes of dumped and subsidized merchandise to the United States,” said Arik Tendler, Cambria’s Chief Sales Officer. “The Federal Circuit’s decision to uphold the scope modification on crushed glass ensures that strong relief continues to be afforded to U.S. producers here in the United States so that they can continue competing on a level playing field. This is a tremendous victory for the principles of free and fair trade. Our company will continue to fight against the market distorting forces that ripple out from the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on China.”