Dali Bagrou and his company World Mining and Oil Supply pleaded guilty on Aug. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to violating the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia said in a press release. The scheme started when a Russian state-owned enterprise began working with Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin, general director of Russia-based energy company KS Engineering, to buy a power turbine from a U.S.-based manufacturer for around $17.3 million, the release said.
An Enforce and Protect Act investigation into alleged antidumping or countervailing duty evasion by a cabinet importer didn't produce evidence that the evasion was happening, CBP said in a July 21 notice of determination. The investigation involved BGI Group, which does business as U.S. Cabinet Depot and was alleged to have shipped wooden cabinet and vanities (WCV) "subject to the AD/CVD Orders to Cambodian company Cambodia Golden Coast Wood Products Co., Ltd." for "repackaging and exporting the Chinese-origin merchandise to BGI." Based on the information on the record of the investigation, "including the absence of sufficient additional evidence of evasion obtained subsequent to the [notice of investigation], CBP finds that substantial evidence does not exist that BGI entered into the customs territory of the United States WCV manufactured in China that had been transshipped through Cambodia during the period of this EAPA investigation."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Strait Shipbrokers and its managing director, Murtuza Mustafa Munir Basrai, filed a complaint July 19 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging its Specially Designated Nationals listing (see 2101050012). The Trump administration made the designation after concluding the company helped with the transport of petroleum from Iran. Straight Shipbroker countered, claiming it's not required to check the origin of its cargo in its role as a broker and that the designation was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and its Fifth Amendment rights to due process (Strait Shipbrokers Pte. Ltd. et al. v. Blinken et al., D.C. Cir. #21-01946).
The U.S. requested the chance to take another look at an Enforce and Protect Act investigation to consider documents that were not sent from one CBP office to another, in a July 30 motion for remand in the Court of International Trade. The agency also sought the remand in light of the court's decision in Royal Brush v. United States, in which CIT held that CBP failed to provide adequate public summaries of business confidential information (BCI) (see 2012020050). The plaintiff in the case, Leco Supply, opposed the remand request, arguing that it is "too broad to be justifiable" under the court's standards for allowing remands (Leco Supply, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00136).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Rolls of label tape imported by D&F Consolidated are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China (A-570-952/C-570-953), said the Commerce Department in a July 27 scope ruling. D&F claimed that only decorative ribbon is subject to the orders, but Commerce found that ribbon with a utilitarian purpose can be subject to AD/CV duties.
Quick frozen garlic imported by Trinity that undergoes a blanching process is not considered heat treated and is still subject to antidumping duties on fresh garlic from China (A-570-831), Commerce said in a July 21 scope ruling. But Trinity’s quick frozen diced garlic and garlic puree are not subject to the AD duty order, said the agency in another scope ruling issued the next day.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
World Trade Organization members reached a consensus July 28 on the 14 new heads of the subsidiary bodies that report to the Council for Trade in Goods. The General Council chair, Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, added that he will host consultations on how to "improve the overall process for the appointment of officers of all WTO bodies," according to an accompanying press release. The chairpersons are as follows: