The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate in a countervailing duty investigation on ripe olives from Spain. In its decision, the appellate court said the Court of International Trade was wrong to impose a 50% threshold in determining whether demand for a processed agricultural product is "substantially dependent" on its raw upstream iteration for purposes of assigning countervailing duties (see 2405200045). Judges Sharon Prost, William Bryson and Leonard Stark said that the Commerce Department shall receive "considerable discretion" in determining whether such demand is substantially dependent due to the general nature of the terms "substantially dependent" (Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1162).
The Commerce Department in remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade on July 12 nudged exporter Gujarat Fluorochemicals' antidumping duty rate from 10.01% to 10.36% after reversing its decision to grant the company a constructed export price offset (Daikin America v. U.S., CIT # 22-00122).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage continued its bid for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against CBP's move to temporarily suspend Seko from the Entry Type 86 pilot and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, filing a brief in support of the motions at the Court of International Trade on July 10 (Seko Customs Brokerage v. United States, CIT # 24-00097).
Anti-forced labor nonprofit International Rights Advocates on July 11 addressed the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which denied standing to anti-abortion medical associations and individual doctors challenging the FDA's regulation of mifepristone. In fending off the government's claims that IRAdvocates lacks standing to challenge CBP's delay in responding to a withhold release order petition, the advocacy group said its case is "fundamentally distinguishable" from Alliance (International Rights Advocates v. Alejandro Mayorkas, CIT # 23-00165).
The U.S. is seeking over $1.1 million in unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties plus a $2 million civil penalty against importer Forest Group USA and its alleged successor company, Drapery Hardware USA, the government said in a customs penalty suit filed July 10 (U.S. v. Forest Group USA, CIT # 24-00117).
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit during a July 11 oral argument probed the government and parties to an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case on its standard of review in the scope case. Judge Sharon Prost said at the outset that the court is "being very careful" in terms of what it says on standard of review issues in "light of all of the recent opinions and litigation concerning standard of review" in administrative law issues (Worldwide Door Components v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1532).
Gerald Moody, former assistant chief for the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit of DOJ's Fraud Section, has joined Akin as a partner in the white collar defense and government investigations practice, the firm announced. Moody worked at DOJ for over eight years, starting as a federal prosecutor in the FCPA unit in 2016 and serving as assistant chief beginning in January 2021.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 9 unsealed a May 29 order compelling Judge Pauline Newman to show cause for why she shouldn't continue to be subject to a suspension from hearing new cases in light of her continued refusal to cooperate with her colleagues' investigation of her fitness to continue serving on the bench. The suspension is set to expire in September.
Nikolay Goltsev of Montreal and Brooklyn, New York, resident Salimdzhon Nasriddinov pleaded guilty July 9 to conspiracy to commit export control violations. The two men shipped electronic components to sanctioned Russian companies, some of which were then found in "seized Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment in Ukraine," according to DOJ.