The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 21 dismissed importer Phoenix Metal Co.'s appeal of CBP's affirmative finding that the company evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cast iron soil pipe from China by transshipping through Cambodia (see 2406100027). The Court of International Trade rejected Phoenix's due process claims, which faulted CBP for failing to notify the company that it was subject to an interim EAPA investigation, finding that the company failed to allege that it suffered specific-enough arm by being subject to the interim measures without adequate notice (Phoenix Metal Co v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-2222).
Court of Federal Appeals Trade activity
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 22 rejected exporter Oman Fasteners' bid to reschedule oral argument currently set for Nov. 7 in its appeal involving an antidumping duty review. Oman Fasteners sought to reschedule the oral argument due to its lawyers' unforeseen scheduling conflict involving a separate case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit (Oman Fasteners v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1661).
The Commerce Department was right to make a Vietnam-wide determination that exporters were circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar panels from China on the basis of an affirmative finding for 10 respondents, the U.S. argued Oct. 21 (Trina Solar (Vietnam) Science & Technology Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00228).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 23 affirmed CBP's classification of steel tubing with a thin interior coating mainly made of epoxy, melamine and silicon additives under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 7306, which covers certain iron or steel tubes and pipes. Judges Richard Taranto, Todd Hughes and Tiffany Cunningham said the goods, imported by Shamrock Building Materials, don't fit under heading 8547, which covers electrical conduit tubing lined with insulating material because the heading requires "commercially significant insulation of the conduit against current flow" -- which Shamrock's tubing doesn't have. The result is a 25% Section 232 tariff on the imports.
Exporter Oman Fasteners on Oct. 18 urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reschedule oral argument in its antidumping duty appeal that is currently set for Nov. 7. Counsel for the exporter said an "unforeseeable scheduling conflict arose that will make it exceedingly difficult" for the company to argue the case on that date (Oman Fasteners v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1661).
Importer Phoenix Metal Co. on Oct. 16 voluntarily dismissed its appeal of an Enforce and Protect Act proceeding at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that the company evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cast iron soil pipe from China by transshipping the pipe through Cambodia (see 2406100027). The trade court rejected Phoenix's due process claims, which faulted CBP for failing to notify the company that it was subject to an interim EAPA investigation, finding that Phoenix failed to allege that it suffered specific-enough harm by being subject to the interim measures without adequate notice. Counsel for Phoenix declined to comment on the decision to drop the appeal (Phoenix Metal v. U.S., CIT # 23-00048).
The U.S. Court.of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's electronic filing system, CM/ECF, will undergo maintenance from Oct. 19 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EDT Oct. 20, the court announced. The system will be unavailable during this time, though it "may be available for intermittent accessing of documents," the court said. Filers shouldn't try to file any new documents during this time.
In oral arguments Oct. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that the plaintiff challenging an Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding whose entries have all already been liquidated was likely not going to succeed in reversing the dismissal of its case by the Court of International Trade (see 2208180045) (All One God Faith v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave notice to the U.S. on Oct. 15 that it has failed to respond to exporter La Molisana's notice of oral argument in a case on the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. Failure to file this document "may result in dismissal or other action as deemed appropriate by the court," CAFC said in the text order (La Molisana v. United States, CIT # 23-2060).
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