The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should uphold a lower court decision that found that CBP's "indirect method" for weighing importer New Image Global's tobacco wraps that included the weight of additives was legally and scientifically valid, the Department of Justice said in a Jan. 27 brief. Replying to New Image's arguments to the contrary, DOJ said that CBP properly interpreted the excise tax statute to include anything added to the tobacco wraps in the weight of the wraps (New Image Global v. United States, Fed. Cir. #19-2444).
CBP doesn't need to establish intent to defraud the U.S. in order to find an importer evaded antidumping and countervailing duties under the Enforce and Protect Act statute, CBP told the Court of International Trade in its Jan. 27 remand results. Continuing to find that Diamond Tools Technology (DTT) evaded the ADD/CVD order on diamond sawblades from China, CBP said that it only needs to show that DTT submitted false statements to prove evasion. This is in line with the purpose of the law, CBP said, since the purpose is to merely collect AD/CV duties owed to the U.S. (Diamond Tools Technology v. U.S., CIT #20-00060)
Roma tomatoes imported from Mexico and used by Simply Fresh to make preserved salsa products are exempt from the antidumping duty suspension agreement and the suspended AD duty investigation on fresh tomatoes from Mexico (A-201-820), the Commerce Department said in a Jan. 12 scope ruling. The tomatoes meet the requirements of an exemption in the scope for tomatoes for processing, the agency said.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Jan. 21 and again Jan. 25 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The Department of Justice's and defendant-intervenor Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood's arguments in favor of CBP's affirmative antidumping duty and countervailing duty evasion finding ignore the procedural rights afforded by the Administrative Procedure Act, plaintiffs American Pacific Plywood and U.S. Global Forest said in a Jan. 24 brief. DOJ and the coalition argue that the plaintiffs are only entitled to what the Enforce and Protect Act statute prescribes, but American Pacific Plywood and U.S. Global Forest said this ignores the plaintiffs' other due process rights (American Pacific Plywood v. U.S., CIT Consol #20-03914).
An arbitrator at the World Trade Organization in a Jan. 26 report found that China can implement countermeasures on goods from the U.S. up to $645.12 million annually due to U.S. violations of WTO obligations in a variety of countervailing duty proceedings. The arbitrator looked at 10 CVD matters and determined that the total level of "nullification and impairment" China suffered as a result of the U.S.'s "WTO-inconsistent methodologies" in these proceedings exceeded $645 million per year. The CVD matters concern pressure pipe, line pipe, kitchen shelving, oil country tubular goods (OCTG), wire strand, seamless pipe, print graphics, aluminum extrusions, steel cylinders and solar panels. The only nonredacted level of N/I for the CVD proceedings included $365.37 million for OCTG and $20.65 million for solar panels. China can now ask the Dispute Settlement Body for authorization "to suspend concessions or other obligations at a level not exceeding" $645.121 million per year.
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. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sent a case back to the the D.C. U.S. District Court over whether service was properly provided to the Venezuelan government in a case on the expropriation of a French company. The appellate court said that service was not provided to the Attorney General, as required by Venezuelan law, so the case was sent back so that the French company in question, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Europe, has a chance to properly effect service (Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Europe v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, D.C. Cir. #21-7019).
The lack of access to business confidential information (BCI) in an antidumping and countervailing duty evasion investigation violated wire hanger importer Leco Supply's due process rights, the importer told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 24 brief. Responding to CBP's remand results in which it took another look at its initial finding of evasion under the Enforce and Protect Act, Leco said its lack of access to confidential information and the withholding of information not entitled to confidentiality at the administrative level "clearly risked erroneous deviation of Leco's private interests," the brief said. An administrative protective order issued during EAPA investigations would end this concern, the importer told the trade court (Leco Supply v. U.S., CIT #21-00136).
The Commerce Department must reconsider its final determination in an antidumping duty investigation into truck and bus tires from China, the Court of International Trade said in a Jan. 24 decision. Judge Timothy Stanceu sent the matter back to Commerce so it could reconsider its decision to deny the two groups of plaintiffs -- led by Guizhou Tyre Co. and Double Coin Holdings -- separate rate status in the investigation. The judge said that the agency's reasoning was "vague and ambiguous" as to whether its inquiry focused on the Chinese government's control of the plaintiffs' export activities.