A case making its way through the Court of International Trade concerning CBP's interpretation of the drawback statute could result in a "win-win for the drawback community," law firm Neville Peterson said in a blog post. The case could see the court "employ a rule of lenity" when interpreting what is an "article description" for the purposes of setting substitution unused merchandise drawback eligibility, the firm claimed.

A recent Court of International Trade decision over how to value plywood imports claimed to be defective should inspire attorneys who draft international purchase agreements to double-check the language in those deals, Barnes Richardson customs lawyer Lawrence Friedman said in an April 1 blog post. Customs attorneys should ensure their agreements have language declaring "Merchandise shall be delivered free of defects, including latent defects, and suitable to its intended use," or some similar provision, Friedman said, noting that he lacks expertise in contract language.

DOJ last week offered insight on what may constitute “extraordinary” cooperation under its recently revised corporate enforcement polices, but said it doesn’t plan to issue a more concrete definition. The agency can “never articulate, in advance, what exactly will or will not satisfy these provisions,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said, adding that each case is “different, and our prosecutors need flexibility and discretion to apply their judgment in the myriad scenarios that may be presented.”

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas dismissed a suit against the State Department concerning the regulation of 3D gun file exports, saying the claims are moot because the State Department shifted export control responsibility to the Commerce Department. Judge Robert Pitman dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, saying plaintiffs Defense Distributed and Second Amendment Foundation failed to show the State Department still regulated the exports. Pitman also ruled that Defense Distributed's claim for monetary damages against the State Department belongs "to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Federal Claims."

The U.S. filed its initial written submission March 20 in its second panel under the USMCA trade deal over Canada's dairy tariff-rate quotas, arguing that various elements of Canada's TRQ allocation system "remain fundamentally inconsistent with Canada's USMCA obligations," according to a copy of the submission posted by the International Economic Law and Policy blog.

Importers under investigation by CBP for customs penalties should consult with their lawyers on whether and when to waive the statute of limitations, customs lawyer Larry Friedman of Barnes Richardson said. Commenting on the Court of International Trade's recent decision in U.S. vs. Crown Cork & Seal, Friedman said that waiving the statute of limitations is often "the correct thing to do" since it "allows both sides to fully investigate the matter and permits settlement discussions."

Corporations can take a number of steps to make sure their compliance procedures will allow them to qualify for potential declinations under DOJ’s new corporate enforcement policies, lawyers said this week. But they also said certain parts of the new DOJ policies could be clearer, including the agency’s definition for “extraordinary” cooperation during an investigation.

Law firm Quinn Emanuel will open an office in Beijing, its second office in mainland China. The new office will bolster the firm's China practice on matters including international arbitration and government agency investigations, among them DOJ, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Quinn Emanuel also helps large companies with "critical internal investigations and government enforcement actions involving their China operations," the firm said. Xiao Liu, Quinn Emanuel's China practice chair, will head the Beijing office.

DOJ last week announced “significant changes” to how it assesses corporate compliance programs’ approach to communications platforms, which could impact whether the agency offers to resolve an investigation without criminal charges. Under the revised policies, companies that claim to not have access to emails and other electronic information related to a DOJ probe may have to prove to the agency that they can’t access those messages, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite said.

Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson announced Feb. 28 that Laurie Waddy will step down as the company's chief compliance officer after nearly four years in the role. Waddy has stood at the center of Ericsson's compliance efforts amid alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.