A dual U.S.-Ghana citizen made his initial appearance in a New York court July 16, a day after being extradited from the U.K. for his role in a scheme to bribe Ghanaian officials, DOJ announced. Asante Kwaku Berko is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, one count of violating the FCPA and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.
The Commerce Department improperly decided that it can use Romania as the primary surrogate in the 2021-22 antidumping duty review on chlorinated isocyanurates from China after Romania wasn't submitted as a potential surrogate prior to the surrogate country comment deadline, exporters Heze Huayi Chemical Co. and Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co. argued (Bio-Lab v. United States, CIT Consol. # 24-00024).
Ildico, importer of luxury Richard Mille watches, told the Court of International Trade that the U.S. is seeking to "distract from the legal issue" in the case by claiming that Ildico allegedly can't prove the characteristics of the watches (Ildico v. United States, CIT # 18-00136).
The Court of International Trade properly rejected the Commerce Department's decision to set the separate rate respondents' antidumping duty margin by averaging a zero percent rate and an adverse facts available rate, exporter Zhejiang Dehua TB Import & Export Co. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Filing a reply brief July 17, the exporter said Commerce failed to support its use of the averaged rates and that the agency ultimately arrived at the correct determination: a zero percent margin for the separate rate companies (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1258).
Dutch construction equipment maker Dieseko Group paid over $1.94 million to settle allegations that it violated sanctions on Russia, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service announced, according to an unofficial translation. Dieseko was found by Dutch authorities to have "sold pile drivers and associated parts" for the construction of a bridge in Crimea from 2015-16 and also provided technical assistance for the goods.
The Commerce Department on July 12 released a proposed rule updating various aspects of its antidumping and countervailing duty regulations. The agency said the changes largely "codify existing procedures and methodologies" and also "create or revise" provisions related to the "collection of cash deposits," use of AD rates on nonmarket economy nations, calculation of an all-others' rate, respondent selection and "attribution of subsidies received by cross-owned input producers and utility providers to producers of subject merchandise."
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 15 order denied customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage's application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against CBP's temporary suspension of the company from the Entry Type 86 pilot and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. Judge Claire Kelly said she intends to issue a public version of the opinion "on or shortly after" July 23, giving the litigants until July 22 to review the confidential information in the decision (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).
Importer Amsted Rail Co. and its Mexican maquiladora affiliate ASF-K Mexico told the Court of International Trade on July 15 that the Commerce Department's failure to disqualify its former counsel, Buchanan Ingersoll partner Daniel Pickard, invalidates the agency's antidumping duty investigation on freight rail couplers from Mexico. Filing a motion for judgment, ARC said Pickard "betrayed" the company by using its information against it in an AD petition and that it didn't consent to Pickard representing an opposing party (Amsted Rail Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00242).
The U.S. told the Court of International Trade on July 15 that importer CVB cannot meet constitutional or statutory standing to challenge the Commerce Department's scope decision finding that seven models of wood platform beds imported by Zinus aren't covered by the scope of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China (CVB v. United States, CIT # 24-00036).
The EU General Court last week annulled three European Council decisions sanctioning Vladimir Rashevsky, former CEO and director of mineral fertilizer giant EuroChem. The court didn't consider the most recent listing decision imposing sanctions on Rashevsky.