The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to drop the use of total adverse facts available against exporter Apiario Diamante Comercial Exportadora, with Apiario Diamante Producao e Comercial de Mel known as Supermel, in the antidumping duty investigation on raw honey from Brazil. The result saw Supermel's AD rate drop from 83.72% to 10.52%.
The World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's Jan. 27 meeting includes a request from China to establish a panel in its dispute against Turkey's measures on electric vehicles and other types of vehicles from China.
The EU requested consultations with China at the World Trade Organization, alleging that China has empowered its courts to set worldwide royalty rates for EU standard essential patents, without the consent of the patent owner. The EU alleged that the measures violate Article 64.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and Article XXII:1 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
A resident of both India and New Jersey who operated jewelry companies in New York City was sentenced Jan. 23 to 30 months in prison for leading a scheme to evade customs duties on over $13.5 million of jewelry imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Monishkumar Kirankumar Doshi Shah had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and operating and aiding the operation of an "unlicensed money transmitting business."
Exporter Shanghai Tainai Bearings Co. and importer C&U Americas will appeal a Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's use of neutral facts available against Tainai in the 33rd review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings from China. The court said Tainai's cooperation in the reviews raised questions about how "aggressively" it sought to gain the cooperation of its unaffiliated suppliers, though these questions didn't translate into the use of adverse facts available (see 2412180036). The court also upheld Commerce's practice of excluding additional revenue Tainai collected in connection with its payment of Section 301 duties from the company's U.S. price (Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00038).
Importer Northern Tool & Equipment Co. dropped its customs suit at the Court of International Trade, which contested the classification of its agricultural sprayers. CBP liquidated the goods under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 8424.49.0000 and 8424.41.1000, dutiable at 2.4% and free of duty, respectively, and secondary subheading 9903.88.03, which carries a 25% Section 301 duty. The importer claimed that the goods should fall under subheading 9817.00.5000, free of duty. Counsel for Northern Tool didn't immediately respond to request for comment (Northern Tool & Equipment v. United States, CIT # 22-00197).
Commerce 'Effectuated Congress' Intent' by Denying Seafood Seller Wholesaler Status, Petitioner Says
The Commerce Department "effectuated Congress' intent" when it found that U.S. seafood seller Luscious Seafood is not a bona fide wholesaler of the domestic like product, petitioner Catfish Farmers of America said in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The petitioner said that while Congress didn't define the term "wholesaler" in the antidumping laws, the "overall text, structure, and purpose of the law do not reflect any intention to allow parties with merely tangential or fugitive wholesaling activity to force Commerce into action -- particularly for potentially manipulative ends" (Luscious Seafood v. United States, CIT # 24-00069).
The U.S. and Vietnam agreed to resolve a long-running dispute on U.S. antidumping duty proceedings on fish fillets from Vietnam. The dispute was originally brought in 2018 to challenge the proceedings as being in violation of the WTO antidumping agreement. In particular, Vietnam challenged the U.S. government's imposition of AD cash deposit requirements in the fifth, sixth and seventh reviews of the AD order, covering entries in 2007-2010. Vietnam claimed that the U.S, should have revoked the order following the seventh review and that the U.S. unlawfully used a country-wide AD rate based on adverse facts available against respondents that were not individually investigated.
Israel formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies Jan. 22, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 89. The WTO needs 22 more to get two-thirds of the membership, the threshold needed for the agreement to take effect.
An issue with the Court of International Trade's CM/ECF system has been resolved, the court said in a text-only notice to various litigants. The issue caused certain Notices of Electronic Filing, including those with deadlines, to not be received by their intended recipients (see 2501220091). The court said that to ensure all affected parties are aware of docket activity during the time that the CM/ECF system was impaired, the court will send regenerated Notices of Electronic Filing for the affected filings "in the near future." Those with questions were instructed to reach out to the courts CM/ECF Help Desk at 1-866-450-1859 or cmecf_helpdesk@cit.uscourts.gov.