Oriented strand board used in door jambs imported by Composite Technology International (CTI) does not qualify as a composite material for the purposes of an exemption from antidumping and countervailing duties on wood mouldings and millwork from China (A-570-117/C-570-118), so the door jambs are subject to AD/CVD, the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling.
An importer entered merchandise covered by antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cast iron soil pipe fittings from China (A-570-062/C-570-063) into the U.S through evasion, CBP said in a July 12 notice. The Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute, a trade association of domestic producers of fittings, had alleged in July 2021 that Little Fireflies International transshipped the goods through Cambodia.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S., in defending its affirmative evasion finding in an Enforce and Protect Act case against Leco Supply, unlawfully seeks to rely on adverse inferences that CBP did not make while also conflating CBP's error in failing to follow its own regulations over the redaction of non-business confidential information with the due process violations that stem from its failure to follow those regulations, Leco argued. Submitting a reply brief at the Court of International Trade, Leco continues to pursue its constitutional claims against CBP's evasion proceeding while tackling the agency's evidentiary basis for the evasion finding and its use of adverse inferences (Leco Supply v. U.S., CIT #21-00136).
The Court of International Trade in a July 12 opinion denied a motion from Kevin Ho, owner and director of importer Atria, to dismiss a penalty action for lack of personal jurisdiction. Judge Timothy Reif said that the U.S. properly identified the "who, what, when, where, and how" of Ho's alleged fraud over the alleged illegal importation of HID headlight conversion kits, so personal jurisdiction was established. However, Reif denied in part and granted in part Ho's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, holding that the U.S. made insufficient factual allegations on Ho's knowledge and intent to violate customs law based on fraud, but giving the U.S. the opportunity to amend its complaint.
The Court of International Trade should deny a stay motion in a case involving the provision of electricity at less than adequate remuneration in a countervailing duty case, the South Korean government said in a brief filed July 1.
Solar cells and modules manufactured in Turkey by HT Solar are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from China (A-570-010/C-570-011), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling, The scope of the solar products orders covers only solar modules and panels assembled in China using cells from third countries, Commerce said. As the solar cells and modules from HT Solar are manufactured in Turkey, the China solar products orders do not apply, even though some of the raw materials in the cells, including wafers, are sourced from China, the agency said.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Importer Charman Manufacturing didn't evade antidumping duties on its malleable cast iron pipe fittings imported from China, CBP said in a July 5 determination. After looking into claims from Matco-Norca that Charman skirted the duties by transshipping the pipe fittings through Indonesia or Singapore, CBP said it didn't have substantial evidence proving these claims. The determination in the Enforce and Protect Act investigation is one of only a handful of times that CBP has come back with a negative evasion finding.
The Commerce Department submitted its remand results July 5 in an antidumping duty review challenge originally brought by Risen Energy Co. at the Court of International Trade. Commerce switched its positions on applying adverse facts available over unreported factors of production data -- reverting to neutral facts available -- and on how to value silver paste using Malaysian surrogate data. The agency stuck by its positions, though, on how to value backsheets and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) using surrogate data. The latter two positions remain contested by the plaintiffs, but they consented to Commerce's switch on the FOP data and silver paste (Risen Energy Co., et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-03743).