The Court of International Trade on July 18 remanded the Commerce Department's decision to include Elysium Tiles' composite tile within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on ceramic tile from China. Judge Jane Restani said the evidence doesn't show that Elysium's processing of its tile was so "minor" as to keep its goods within the scope of the orders. The judge said the "complexity of Elysium's processes exceeds the complexity of the processes described in the scope language." The court also held that Commerce provided an insufficient summary of an ex parte trip it took to U.S. tile maker Florida Tile's production facilities.
Court of International Trade
The United States Court of International Trade is a federal court which has national jurisdiction over civil actions regarding the customs and international trade laws of the United States. The Court was established under Article III of the Constitution by the Customs Courts Act of 1980. The Court consists of nine judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is located in New York City. The Court has jurisdiction throughout the United States and has exclusive jurisdictional authority to decide civil action pertaining to international trade against the United States or entities representing the United States.
The Court of International Trade properly rejected the Commerce Department's decision to set the separate rate respondents' antidumping duty margin by averaging a zero percent rate and an adverse facts available rate, exporter Zhejiang Dehua TB Import & Export Co. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Filing a reply brief July 17, the exporter said Commerce failed to support its use of the averaged rates and that the agency ultimately arrived at the correct determination: a zero percent margin for the separate rate companies (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1258).
Hoverboards are toys, not transportation devices, an importer argued in a motion for judgment filed July 12 in one of a couple of identical classification disputes it has brought in recent years (see 2110150056 and 2112100053) (3BTech v. U.S., CIT # 21-00026).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 15 order denied customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage's application for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against CBP's temporary suspension of the company from the Entry Type 86 pilot and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. Judge Claire Kelly said she intends to issue a public version of the opinion "on or shortly after" July 23, giving the litigants until July 22 to review the confidential information in the decision (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).
Importer Amsted Rail Co. and its Mexican maquiladora affiliate ASF-K Mexico told the Court of International Trade on July 15 that the Commerce Department's failure to disqualify its former counsel, Buchanan Ingersoll partner Daniel Pickard, invalidates the agency's antidumping duty investigation on freight rail couplers from Mexico. Filing a motion for judgment, ARC said Pickard "betrayed" the company by using its information against it in an AD petition and that it didn't consent to Pickard representing an opposing party (Amsted Rail Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00242).
The U.S. told the Court of International Trade on July 15 that importer CVB cannot meet constitutional or statutory standing to challenge the Commerce Department's scope decision finding that seven models of wood platform beds imported by Zinus aren't covered by the scope of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China (CVB v. United States, CIT # 24-00036).
Importer Atlas Power is attempting to use a U.S. request to withdraw an admission of fact in a customs case to root out the government's "alternative classification" of the graphics processing units at issue, the U.S. said following Atlas' opposition to the U.S. motion (Atlas Power v. United States, CIT # 23-00084).
Countervailing duty respondent Riverside Plywood and its cross-owned affiliate Baroque Timber Industries (Zhongshan) Co. said the Commerce Department improperly used adverse facts available to find that all of its input suppliers were government authorities (Baroque Timber Industries (Zhongshan) Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00106).
The Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 doesn't require payouts of interest assessed after liquidation, known as delinquency interest, to affected domestic producers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said July 15. Judges Alan Lourie, Kara Stoll and Tiffany Cunningham said that the statute only provides for interest that's "earned on" antidumping and countervailing duties and "assessed under" the associated AD or CVD order.
The government told the Court of International Trade that importer Precision Components' low-carbon steel blanks fall within the scope of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings from China. Filing a reply brief on July 12, the U.S. said Precision conceded that its blanks described in the 2023 scope ruling request are plainly covered by a 2020 ruling similarly finding the blanks to fall under the scope of the order (Precision Components v. United States, CIT # 23-00218).