Tarriff Relief Sought for Wallbeds in China Product Dumping Case
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Tarriff Relief Sought for Wallbeds in China Product Dumping CaseA wallbed importer,Techcraft Manufacturing, petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce for an exemption for certain wallbed systems from a recent Chinese wood bedroom furniture antidumping order.

Techcraft requested for the following exemption: “Excluded from the scope of the order are certain enclosable wall bed units, also referred to as Murphy beds, which are composed of the following three major sections: (1) a steel wall frame, which attaches to the wall and uses coils or pistons to support the steel mattress frame; (2) a steel mattress frame, which has euro slats for supporting a mattress and two legs that pivot 180 degrees; and (3) wood panels, which attach to the steel wall frame and/or the steel mattress frame to form a cabinet to enclose the wall bed when not in use. Enclosable wall bed units are imported in ready-to-assemble format with all parts necessary for assembly, including hardware and a key lock. Enclosable wall bed units do not include a mattress. Wood panels of enclosable wall bed units, when imported separately, remain subject to the order.”  (View PDF of the notice)

The American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade and Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co. Inc., which spearheaded the original antidumping petition, noted in a letter their agreement with Techcraft’s request. The DOC will issue a final determination in early 2015.

It was back in January 2005 that the DOC first published the Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order: Wooden Bedroom Furniture From the People's Republic of China, 70 FR 329 following a successful petition by the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade, a coalition at the time composed of 27 U.S. manufacturers of wooden bedroom furniture, as well as the locals of five unions: the Cabinet Makers, Millmen, and Industrial Carpenters Local 721; the UBC Southern Council of Industrial Workers Local Union 2305; the United Steel Workers of America Local 193U; the Carpenters Industrial Union Local 2093; and the Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers Local 991.

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