Barcode : 4326250-02 A-533-889 REV - Admin Review 12 / 13 / 19 - 5 / 31 / 21
that a respondent failed to cooperate to the best of its ability . As such , Commerce has not considered any arguments of this nature .
While parties point to other cases , such as Celik Halat I , Celik Halat II and Bosun , to contend that Commerce has exceeded its authority by applying AFA to Antique Group for filing its supplemental questionnaire response late , we note that each proceeding is confronted with unique and individual circumstances that require Commerce to make case-specific determinations . In addition , there are differences between the facts in Celik Halat I and Celik Halat II that differentiate this situation from those cases . In Celik Halat I , the CIT concluded that Commerce ’ s statement that it would not grant any additional extension requests effectively foreclosed the possibility of additional extensions , and the respondent was justified in understanding that . Unlike in Celik Halat I , when issuing the extension of the deadline for Antique Group to submit a response to the second supplemental questionnaire , Commerce never indicated to Antique Group that we would not consider additional extension requests , should they be requested . 145 This was purposeful , as we appreciated that , while we believed that the time granted to Antique Group was sufficient time to prepare and submit its responses , certain situations may have arisen ( e . g ., issues while filing the responses ) that may have justified providing additional time . Additionally , in Celik Halat II and Bosun , the respondent filed the questionnaire responses on time but then , under certain case-specific circumstances , did not submit the final “ bracketing final ” versions the following day in compliance with Commerce ’ s regulations . In both instances , the CIT concluded that the original submission was submitted within the established deadline and concluded that Commerce should not have applied AFA to the respondents because the agency erred in rejecting the responses as a result of these facts . 146 These facts are different from the situation at hand , namely that Antique Group failed to submit the responses within the deadline and did not request an extension , despite Commerce having expressed no indication that it would not grant one . As such , Celik Halat I , Celik Halat II , and Bosun are inapposite to the case at hand .
Various parties contend that Antique Group ’ s earlier participation in the proceeding must be taken into account when determining whether the reliance on AFA is appropriate . A number of arguments point to Nippon Steel to explain that mistakes happen and , given the fact that Antique Group complied with earlier deadlines and was only five hours late submitting the supplemental questionnaire response , Commerce ’ s application of AFA is unreasonable . We note that Nippon Steel is taken out of context in these arguments , overlooking the CAFC ’ s further statement that , while mistakes may happen , that does not mean that inattentiveness or carelessness are acceptable behavior , and parties are expected to be familiar with the rules that apply in these proceedings . 147 As discussed in Comment 2 above , we have found no basis upon which to conclude that the missed deadline was the result of extraordinary circumstances , but rather is because of Antique Group ’ s inattentiveness to the deadline that was set for the response , and Antique Group could have taken reasonable steps to prevent the missed deadline or file an timely request for an extension of the deadline . In Hyundai Electric , the CAFC makes clear what it means when addressing the statement in Nippon Steel that mistakes can happen and perfection is not required when explaining the respondent thought it had fully cooperated in responding to the
145
See Antique Group SQ2 Second Extension .
146
See Celik Halat II , 557 F . Supp . 3d at 1372 ; see also Bosun , 405 F . Supp . 3d at 1365 .
147
See Nippon Steel , 337 F . 3d at 1382-83 .
33 Filed By : David Lindgren , Filed Date : 1 / 3 / 23 1:27 PM , Submission Status : Approved