The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. asked the Court of International Trade to treat "certain portions of the administrative record as highly sensitive documents" in a case against Chinese printer cartridge maker Ninestar Corp.'s addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Following a spat on whether to allow the government to amend the protective order in the suit, the U.S. is now asking for certain protections for information on the record since, if revealed, the information "could pose a danger of physical harm to certain persons" (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The Court of International Trade shouldn't reinstate the Commerce Department's exclusion of four Canadian lumber exporters as part of the countervailing duty investigation on softwood lumber products from Canada, the CVD petitioner said in an Oct. 27 brief at the Court of International Trade. The petitioner, the committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations, said that the four exporters' "mere assertions" that changed circumstances exist, warranting the retroactive exclusion of the companies, is not enough (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, CIT # 19-00122).
Importer Cherish Your Health Food "failed to exercise reasonable care and competence" in submitting import documents related to its entries of fresh garlic from China, the U.S. said in an Oct. 30 complaint at the Court of International Trade. As a result of the company's "negligent violations" of customs laws, the U.S. is seeking over $254,000 related to a group of three entries, dubbed "Group A," it said (United States v. Cherish Your Health Food, CIT # 23-00230).
The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 30 denied a petition for writ of certiorari regarding one question on Nebraska man Byungmin Chae's customs broker license exam. Chae took the test in April 2018 and subsequently took the result through multiple levels of administrative and judicial appeal before seeking Supreme Court review. He will remain one correct answer shy of the 75% threshold needed to pass the exam (Byungmin Chae v. Janet Yellen, U.S. Sup. Ct. # 23-200).
The U.S. Supreme Court denied importer PrimeSource Building Products' petition for writ of certiorari in a case on President Donald Trump's expansion of Section 232 duties onto steel and aluminum "derivative" products. PrimeSource argued that the president's decision to extend the duties onto these goods was unlawful since it was made beyond procedural time limits laid out in the statute (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., U.S. Sup. Ct. # 23-69).
The World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards discussed ways to improve the committee's functionality during an Oct. 25 meeting, the WTO said. The committee adopted a report it sent to the Council for Trade in Goods in which it "outlined the efforts made in this area and the issues on which agreement was reached," the WTO said. Negotiations will continue regarding a joint proposal from various members, and the committee agreed on an update of the format of its annual report to boost transparency, the WTO added. During the meeting, members also discussed a host of legislative notifications of members' new or amended safeguard regulations as well as specific notifications of safeguard actions.
The U.K. High Court on Oct. 26 rejected an application from Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman to overturn the U.K.'s decision to refuse three licenses for payments related to the businessman's property and his management company. The court said the U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation legally concluded that a license may not be granted if the payment is made "directly" or "indirectly" to another designated individual or entity.
Canadian exporter Tolko Industries, a non-individually examined company in the 2021 review of the antidumping duty order on Canadian softwood lumber, said its 6.2% dumping rate was not backed by substantial evidence. Filing a complaint at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 27, Tolko said that since its rate was derived from rates for the two mandatory respondents which themselves were not supported by substantial evidence, its rate is illegal (Tolko Industries v. United States, CIT # 23-00204).
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in an Oct. 26 order denied ocean freight carrier Tonzip Maritime's request to attach commodity trading firm Coral Energy's bank accounts supposedly held by garnishee ING Bank to secure its claims against Coral Energy in the U.K. High Court of Justice. In the U.K., Tonzip is claiming that Coral Energy breached an agreement under which the energy company chartered a Tonzip-owned crude oil tanker for a voyage from Russia to Turkey (Tonzip Maritime v. Coral Energy, E.D. Cal. # 2:23-02283).