World Trade Organization members need to ramp up discussions in the coming weeks to have a "fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system" by the end of the year, said Mauritius' Usha Dwarka-Canabady, facilitator of the WTO's dispute settlement reform talks.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave notice to the U.S. on Oct. 15 that it has failed to respond to exporter La Molisana's notice of oral argument in a case on the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. Failure to file this document "may result in dismissal or other action as deemed appropriate by the court," CAFC said in the text order (La Molisana v. United States, CIT # 23-2060).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 11 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on polyester textured yarn from Indonesia that slashed exporter PT. Asia Pacific Fibers' AD rate from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce dropped its use of adverse facts available and relied on Asia Pacific's submitted information under protest.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week held that tire retailer Texas Truck Parts & Tire was the "beneficial owner" of tires imported by Chinese manufacturers and, as such, is liable for excise taxes on the imports (Texas Truck Parts & Tire v. United States, 5th Cir. # 23-20588).
Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed a motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 14 contesting four questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam, claiming that the questions "lacked sufficient information" that would have allowed her to make an "informed choice." Stoute-Francois added that some of the questions "unreasonably called for knowledge" that a test taker "would have no reasonable basis to possess" and that CBP "failed to adequately explain its decision to deny" her credit for some of the questions (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
China opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization Oct. 11 against Turkey's 40% import duties on Chinese electric vehicles, the WTO announced. The complaint said the rate is greater than the duty rate laid out in Turkey's schedule of concessions and higher than duties on EV imports from other nations.
NEW YORK -- International Trade Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein recommended that counsel arguing before the commission more clearly articulate the source of alternative data used in injury proceedings and submit contemporaneous data before hearings, where possible. Speaking at the Court of International Trade's 22nd Judicial Conference Oct. 10 during a panel discussion on the state of trade-related agencies, Schmidtlein offered tips to arguing counsel on how to best capture the attention of the commissioners and ensure more seamless and robust hearings.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 11 issued its mandate in an appeal of a case on the countervailing duty investigation on Russian phosphate fertilizers brought by exporters Phosagro PJSC and JSC Apatit. The appeal was previously dismissed by CAFC for failure to prosecute (see 2408200028). A separate appeal of the case from exporter Industrial Group Phosphorite continues at the court, with the company claiming that the Commerce Department contradicted the CVD statute in finding that the Russian government's provision of natural gas was de facto specific (see 2408080058) (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1595).