Lumber Exporter Asks CIT to Order Commerce to Issue Timken Notice
Lumber exporter Fontaine asked the Court of International Trade to order the Commerce Department to issue a Timken notice "setting Fontaine's cash deposit rate at 0.00%," reiterating the agency's intent to exclude the company from the countervailing duty order on softwood lumber from Canada and directing CBP to refund Fontaine's CVD cash deposits (Fontaine v. United States, CIT # 19-00154).
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The trade court recently severed Fontaine's case against the expedited review of the CVD order, and Fontaine received a de minimis rate on remand (see 2503140050). Despite declaring its intent to exclude Fontaine from the order, Commerce has yet to issue a Timken notice, which is a Federal Register notice detailing how an agency will alter a decision in order to comply with a CIT or U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling.
Fontaine filed a motion at CIT to enforce judgment, arguing that it has "clear right to the Timken Notice, including the immediate change to a 0.00% cash deposit rate." The agency has a "clear past-due obligation to publish the Timken Notice," the brief said. "Fontaine has no adequate remedy other than an order by this Court to enforce the judgment. And after 8 years of paying cash deposits, including the last 6 years based solely upon an unlawful Commerce decision, an order in mandamus or enforcing the judgment is appropriate."