The U.S. will appeal a recent Court of International Trade decision upholding the Commerce Department's exclusion of seven types of bricks imported by Fedmet Resources Corp. from the scope of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on magnesia carbon bricks from China (see 2510090016). The trade court said the exclusion of the bricks comports with a 2014 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision, which led to the standard that the addition of any amount of alumina to a magnesia carbon brick excludes it from the orders. The case was filed by Fedmet to contest the scope ruling, which came after a referral in an AD/CVD evasion case, on 11 of Fedmet's brick types. After CIT initially remanded the case to address the CAFC ruling, Commerce said seven of Fedmet's brick types are excluded from the order, since they have a non-zero alumina content. The government in appealing the case joins the petitioner, who has already asked the appellate court for expedited consideration of the matter (see 2511260067) (Fedmet Resources v. United States, CIT # 23-00117).
Trade lawyers are split over the necessity of filing lawsuits now to secure potential International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds should the Supreme Court invalidate them, according to interviews with lawyers.
The Court of International Trade erred in ruling that importer Blue Sky The Color of Imagination's planning calendars are diaries under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Dec. 4. Judges Alan Lourie, William Bryson and Raymond Chen said the trade court violated the principle of stare decisis by skirting the CAFC's prior interpretation of the term "diary."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Dec. 4 that the Court of International Trade erred in ruling that importer Blue Sky the Color of Imagination's planning calendars are classified as diaries under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.20.10. Judges Alan Lourie, William Bryson and Raymond Chen said the trade court violated the principle of stare decisis by going against the CAFC's 2002 ruling in Mead Corp. v. U.S., which interpreted the term "diary" as referring to "retrospective, not prospective" records. However, the Federal Circuit didn't settle on a final subheading for the products at issue, though it noted that the U.S. offered "some seemingly persuasive arguments" for why Blue Sky's goods fall under heading 4820 rather than under heading 4910 as calendars.
A petitioner was wrong that the trade court made "several cascading errors” in its motion remanding a scope ruling on dual-stenciled pipe by failing to consider two other cases, the U.S. and exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe each said in reply briefs Dec. 2 (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Company v. United States, CIT # 21-00049).
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit questioned whether it should grant the government's voluntary remand motion in an antidumping duty case on the Commerce Department's use of the Cohen's d test in light of CAFC's decisions in Stupp v. U.S. and Marmen v. U.S. During oral argument held Dec. 1, Judges Richard Taranto, William Bryson and Tiffany Cunningham appeared ready to grant the motion, asking the parties what specifically the remand order should say (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1556).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will be closed on Dec. 24, starting at 1 p.m. ET, and on Dec. 31, also starting at 1 p.m. ET, the court announced. All electronic filing deadlines will remain in effect, and electronic case filing will remain available through CM/ECF, the court said. Nonelectric filings received after 1 p.m. on these days will be treated as timely filed "if received by the next business day," in line with CAFC Rule 26(a)(3). Under this rule, if the clerk's office is inaccessible, the time for filing is extended to the first accessible day that isn't a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.
Petitioner Magneisa Carbon Bricks Fair Trade Committee on Nov. 26 further supported its motion to have the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit expedite its appeal of a scope ruling involving the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on magnesia carbon bricks from China. The petitioner said the U.S. industry faces "severe competitive harm" from entries of the bricks at issue, and expedition is required to "limit foreign importers’ ability to flood the market with refractory bricks at unfairly traded (and injurious) prices" (Fedmet Resources v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 26-1160).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 25 denied the government's motion to cancel oral argument in a case involving the Commerce Department's use of the Cohen's d test to detect masked dumping. In a per curiam order, the court said the parties "should plan to focus on" the government's motion for a voluntary remand "at argument" (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1556).