The U.S. opposed Canadian lumber exporters' bid to get the court to clarify its instruction to CBP to "discontinue ... the collection of" cash deposits made on entries brought in before a prior Court of International Trade decision, which said it wasn't equitable to subject the companies' exports to the countervailing duty order on Canadian softwood lumber (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. United States, CIT # 19-00122).
Court of Federal Appeals Trade activity
Court-ordered reliquidations aren't actions taken by CBP and can't be protested, the government said in oral arguments held Dec. 6 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. As a result, the Federal Circuit doesn't have jurisdiction to hear Target's appeal of a liquidation ordered by CIT, the U.S. said (Target v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-2274).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 9 remanded the Commerce Department's surrogate financial ratios calculation in the 2017-18 review of the antidumping duty order on solar cells from China. Judges Timothy Dyk and Kara Stoll said Commerce's approach to overhead costs in Malaysian company Hanwha Q Cells Malaysia's financial statement "is so unclear that it is insufficient." Judge Leonard Stark disagreed with the majority, finding there to be sufficient evidence to support the agency's approach and charging the majority with providing relief that was not sought by exporter and plaintiff Risen Energy Co. However, the three judges agreed in sustaining Commerce's surrogate value picks for Risen's backsheet and ethyl vinyl acetate inputs.
Anti-forced labor group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reject the government's request for a two-month delay in filing a reply brief in the group's suit seeking CBP to respond to a withhold release order petition to ban cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire. IRAdvocates claimed that every "major delay in CBP doing its statutory duty to ban the importation of cocoa harvested by child slaves condemns thousands of children to a continuation of the horrible condition they must endure" (International Rights Advocates v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-2316).
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 4 questioned importer Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) and the government regarding the tariff classification of frozen fruit mixtures. Judge Todd Hughes led the bulk of the questioning, pushing Nature's Touch on how to classify the goods if the court finds that the mixtures aren't food preparations, as claimed by the company, and how they should be classified instead under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 0811, which covers certain frozen fruit (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-2093).
Amendments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's practice rules officially took effect Dec. 1, the court announced. The changes incorporated all procedural requirements for petitioners for panel rehearings and rehearings en banc into one rule, though no substantive changes were made to the rule (see 2409050005). As a result of the change, CAFC updated its information sheet on rehearing petitions.
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The U.S. and defendant-intervenors each replied Nov. 26 to importer CME Acquisition’s August motion for judgment (see 2408220024). They argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has put the burden on exporters to show that averaged adverse facts available rates for non-selected respondents via the expected method is unreasonable (CME Acquisitions v. United States, CIT # 24-00032).
Canadian lumber exporter J.D. Irving urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reconsider its rejection of the company's attempt to challenge the denial of an antidumping duty cash deposit rate under Section 1581(i), the Court of International Trade's "residual" jurisdiction. Filing a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, J.D. Irving said the appellate court's decision is "grounded on a fundamental misunderstanding of the law and fact" related to its claim (J.D. Irving v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1652).
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