The Commerce Department recently issued two scope rulings that found wheels and wheel components purportedly imported for passenger vehicle use are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China (A-570-090/C-570-091). In scope rulings issued April 30 and May 3, the agency found that the wheels and wheel components are not intended for use on trailers.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 4 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 Commerce Department backed its decision to not collapse companies into a single entity in an antidumping case, according to a May 5 reply brief to the Court of International Trade in support of the agency's remand redetermination. In a final affirmative antidumping duty determination on stainless steel flanges from India, Commerce originally consolidated Echjay, Echjay Industries Private Limited, Echjay Forgins Industry Private Limited and Spire Industries Private Limited into one entity since they were all owned by the Doshi family in India. After a CIT remand, Commerce reversed course, finding substantial evidence, including decrees from the Bombay High Court, indicating a “familial and business separation” between the companies. In its reply, Commerce addressed opposition from petitioners to the remand redetermination, and included a detailed analysis of why the companies are not affiliated and thus do not warrant being collapsed into a single entity.
The Court of International Trade on May 5 upheld the Commerce Department's rejection of Vietnamese steel exporter Vnsteel-Phu My Flat Steel Co.'s (PMF) quantity and value questionnaire in an antidumping duty circumvention case. In the opinion, Judge Timothy Reif sided with Commerce, ruling that the agency's decision to instead apply adverse facts available was in accordance with the law, given PMF's incomplete, then untimely resubmission of, the Q&V questionnaire form.
Akin Gump added Cindy Owens, previously with Covington & Burling, as a counsel in its international trade practice, the firm said in a news release. Owens “represents multinational clients on customs matters, including classification, valuation, country of origin, drawback, transfer pricing, foreign trade zones, bonded warehouses, free trade agreements and general entry process requirements,” it said.
The State Department fined a U.S. aerospace and technology company $13 million for illegally exporting technical data to several countries, including China, according to a May 3 order. Honeywell International sent drawings of parts for military-related items, including for engines of military jets and bombers, the agency said, all of which were controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. After discovering the violations, issuing a self-disclosure to the State Department and bolstering its compliance program, the company again illegally exported technical drawings, failing to abide by its improved compliance requirements, the order said.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 4 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):
CBP has released its May 5 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 55, No. 17), which includes the following ruling actions:
Changes made to the Court of International Trade's rules and fees took effect on May 3, according to an earlier notice of the amendments. Alterations to CIT Rules 3, 5, 15, Form 20 and Administrative Order 02-01 are now in force along with changes in fees made to the Schedule of Fees, Rule 74 and Form 10. The attorney admission certificate fee for the original admission of an attorney to practice was raised to $88, from $81.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: