The Commerce Department’s failure to verify data submitted by an Indian exporter of forged steel fittings during an antidumping duty investigation conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic means the agency should be ordered to go back and reexamine the exporter’s zero rate, the petitioners from that investigation said in a brief filed April 26 seeking a Court of International Trade remand (Bonney Forge Corporation et al v. U.S., CIT # 20-03837).
Court of International Trade activity
Porsche Motorsports North America filed a motion for summary judgment in the Court of International Trade, hoping to sway the court that automobile repair tools and parts the company exported to Canada then brought back into the U.S. should return duty free. In the April 26 filing, Porsche argued for classification under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9801.00.85 -- the subheading granting duty-free access to goods returning to the states after having been exported for use temporarily abroad -- claiming the parts are “tools of the trade” of car racing.
The Commerce Department essentially “committed fraud” against a Chinese shrimp exporter that had been revoked from an antidumping duty order but, because of Commerce’s own misspelling that the agency refuses to correct, found itself years later participating in an administrative review and being assigned an AD duty cash deposit rate, the exporter said in a brief filed April 26 at the Court of International Trade (Shantou Red Garden Food Processing Co., Ltd. et al v. U.S., CIT # 20-03947).
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Trade Law Daily, the newest information service from the editors of International Trade Today and Export Compliance Daily. This service informs trade lawyers and customs professionals about rulings, remedies and regulations that affect their clients and products. Trade Law Daily will provide focused coverage in the following areas:
Steel importer Norca Industrial Company filed a challenge to an affirmative Enforce and Protect Act determination, claiming that CBP did not have a legal basis to initiate the investigation and violated its due process rights. In an April 27 complaint in the Court of International Trade, Norca made six claims against its EAPA investigation, including on the constitutionality of the process and whether CBP unfairly made adverse inferences against the company to determine that evasion took place (Norca Industrial Company LLC v. U.S., CIT # 21-00192).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Target Corporation launched a case in the Court of International Trade challenging one of the court's own decisions to order the reliquidation of metal top ironing tables at a higher antidumping duty rate. In an April 23 complaint, Target claimed that CIT's order, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision to uphold the order, to reliquidate the ironing tables at a higher 72.29% antidumping duty rate is illegal since the order came 90 days after the goods were liquidated by CBP.
The Department of Justice on April 23 filed a motion to dismiss Root Sciences' Court of International Trade challenge of CBP's seizure of a shipment of a cannabis crude extract recovery machine. DOJ says that CIT lacks the jurisdiction to adjudicate challenges to CBP's seizure of goods, and the relevant federal district court is the proper venue to challenge seizures.
Cases brought in the Court of International Trade that seek to challenge denied protests over granted exclusions to the Section 301 tariffs may eventually result in refunds for duties paid on excluded products, Ted Murphy of Sidley Austin said in an April 26 blog post. CBP is now “making its way through the incredible number of post-summary corrections and protests that were filed claiming refunds of Section 301 duties based on approved exclusions,” he said. “While most clients have had most of their refund requests approved, a handful of requests have been denied by CBP with limited explanation. Following up on the denials has not always produced satisfying results. As a result, we are filling (and have been seeing other firms file) suits” at the CIT.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 26 upheld a recent lower court ruling that found an active pharmaceutical ingredient imported by Janssen Ortho eligible for duty-free treatment. In line with a February 2020 Court of International Trade decision, the Federal Circuit found darunavir ethanolate, the active ingredient in a Janssen HIV medication, is encompassed by a listing in the tariff schedule's Pharmaceutical Appendix for darunavir.