The World Trade Organization's Committee on Trade and Environment during its June 19 meeting agreed to center upcoming "thematic sessions" on "trade-related climate measures, technology transfer, and sustainable agriculture," the WTO announced. The selection of the three themes were made in light of Trade and Environment Week, which the committee chair confirmed will take place Oct. 7-11. The environment week will feature a thematic session and "other events," the WTO said.
South Africa requested the establishment of two dispute panels to review EU restrictions on South African citrus fruit at the June 24 Dispute Settlement Body, marking the first time South Africa has used the dispute settlement system, the World Trade Organization announced. The measures are import restrictions to control the spread of the false coding moth and a fungus called the "citrus black spot."
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. on June 21 petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for either a panel or en banc rehearing of its decision to include dual-stenciled pipe in the scope of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand (see 2405150027) (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2181).
The Court of International Trade in a June 13 decision made public June 24 said the Commerce Department properly found that Aussie exporter BlueScope Steel (AIS) didn't reimburse its affiliated importer BlueScope Steel Americas (BSA) for antidumping duties. Sustaining the second review of the AD order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia, Judge Richard Eaton said that Commerce also properly declined to make a "standalone deduction" from the constructed export price for "profit resulting from the further manufacture of the steel in the United States."
Mauritius' Usha Dwarka-Canabady, facilitator of the WTO's dispute settlement reform talks, briefed WTO members on June 20 regarding the start of the formal negotiations process, the WTO announced. Dwarka-Canabady said that after she presented the "work plan on the dispute settlement reform process," members backed the idea of focusing first on appeals and reviews of dispute settlement decisions, then pivoting to the entire package and other issues.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Exporters Guizhou Tyre Co. and Aeolus Tyre Co. said in a June 20 reply brief that the U.S. ignored the manner in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said presumptions operate under the Federal Rules of Evidence (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2163).
Importer Target General Merchandise moved for summary judgment in a customs case on its LED lamps, breaking down its case into two tracks -- one regarding its goods imported in 2014 and the other on its imports entered in 2018 (Target General Merchandise v. United States, CIT # 15-00069).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 21 sustained the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on utility scale wind towers from Canada, keeping the CVD rate for respondent Marmen Energy just above the de minimis threshold at 1.18%.