In March 2003, the US Court of International Trade had raised fundamental questions about a group of rulings in 2001 in which the Commerce Department had imposed duties on exports to the USA of low-enriched uranium (LEU) by USEC's European competitors, Urenco and Cogema.
One key question posed by the court had been whether enrichers could be legitimately classified as "producers" of LEU, and therefore subject to the relevant provisions of US trade law. In its 6 June filing, the Commerce Department said: "Because enrichers make relevant sales that can be used to establish the US price of LEU, and engage in and control all aspects of enrichment processing, a necessary and significant manufacturing operation for the production of LEU, we find that, taken together, the facts and circumstances in this case indicate that the enrichers are the producers of LEU for the purpose of establishing the US price of the subject merchandise and its normal value."
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