NEW YORK -- The Court of International Trade held oral argument on Jan. 18 in Chinese exporter Ninestar's case challenging its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, addressing the company's motion for a preliminary injunction against its listing and its bid to unseal and unredact the record in the case (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
Carlton Llewellyn, former senior executive at cargo airline Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, pleaded guilty on Jan. 16 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of a scheme to defraud the airline, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The count comes with a maximum five-year prison stint, and in addition, Llewellyn agreed to pay $347,879.44 in forfeiture and a restitution payment of $305,800 to Polar. Sentencing is scheduled for May 7.
Importer Sweet Harvest Foods and the National Honey Packers & Dealers Association will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a November Court of International Trade decision sustaining the International Trade Commission's critical circumstances finding on raw honey imports from Vietnam that led to the retroactive imposition of antidumping duties on the products, they said in Jan. 16 notices of appeal (see 2311170064) (Sweet Harvest Foods v. U.S., CIT # 22-00188).
The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 16 order allowed some changes proposed by the U.S. to the amended protective order (APO) in exporter Ninestar Corp.'s case against its addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, but it denied a motion from Ninestar to amend the protective order (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 16 sent back CBP's finding that importer Columbia Aluminum Products' door thresholds evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu said CBP, in both the final evasion decision and an administrative review of the decision, committed "multiple errors, both of fact and of law." The judge said CBP didn't have evidence on its side in making the evasion finding, nor did it properly initiate the investigation.
World Trade Organization members on Jan. 15 agreed that as the basis for talks in the run-up to the 13th Ministerial Conference, they would use the most recent draft text on addressing subsidies promoting overcapacity and overfishing, the WTO announced. Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the fisheries subsidies talks, said members over the next four weeks will use the draft to finalize a "clean" text for MC13, which will be held Feb. 26-29 in the United Arab Emirates. The WTO said members will hold meetings from Jan. 15 to Feb. 9 to "go through the whole text." This period is being dubbed "Fish Month" at the WTO.
Exporter Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon Co. and its U.S. importer, Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon USA, dismissed their case challenging the Commerce Department's final results of the 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on activated carbon from China. Counsel for Juqiang didn't respond to a request for comment. Exporter Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. also dismissed its lawsuit against the same AD review (see 2401100018) (Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00267).
Importer Bral Corp. and the U.S. settled a customs case on the company's entries of allegedly defective plywood, according to a Jan. 16 stipulation of dismissal, but didn't make the settlement public. The company declined to comment on the terms of the settlement (Bral Corp. v. United States, CIT # 20-00154).
The government hasn't given a "compelling justification" for why it used "secret evidence" to add Ninestar Corp. to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, Ninestar argued Jan. 15 (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The Court of International Trade upheld the Commerce Department's decision to accept antidumping duty respondent Oman Fasteners' supplemental questionnaire response after initially rejecting it for being submitted 16 minutes late. Judge M. Miller Baker, in a Jan. 5 opinion made public Jan. 16, nodded to his prior opinion in the case, in which he held that the rejection of the submission was "the very definition of abuse of discretion" (see 2307170036). The result was a zero percent dumping margin for the exporter.