An importer of weekly/monthly planners told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 18 that it and the government were in agreement that the Court of International Trade had committed a reversible error by classifying its planners as diaries (Blue Sky The Color of Imagination v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1710).
Court of International Trade activity
Importer Nutricia North America told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 18 that the government's claims in a customs suit on the company's medical foods present "several fundamental flaws." Nutricia argued that, despite the government's claim that the products are barred from Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 3004 due to Note 1(a) to chapter 30, the medical foods "easily fall within the terms of heading 3004 as 'medicaments ... for therapeutic uses'" (Nutricia North America v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1436).
International trade lawyer Mary Mikhaeel will leave Miller & Chevalier, where she has worked as a senior associate since January 2023, according to a notice at the Court of International Trade. The firm said Mikaheel will leave the firm effective Sept. 23. Mikhaeel told Trade Law Daily she will be joining Covington's business and human rights practice group. She has been at Miller & Chevalier since 2020, when she joined as an associate, moving from Fox Rothschild.
The Commerce Department erred in treating fees exporter Finieco Industria e Comercio de Embalagens paid to a U.S. company as a direct expense in the antidumping duty investigation on paper shopping bags from Portugal, Finieco said in a Sept. 17 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Finieco Industria e Comercio de Embalagens v. U.S., CIT # 24-00160).
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 18 sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to weight average zero percent and adverse facts available antidumping rates to set the rate for the non-individually examined respondents in the 2016-17 review of the AD order on multilayered wood flooring from China.
Importer Cozy Comfort Co. moved on Sept. 17 to exclude the testimony of sales and marketing lecturer Patricia Concannon regarding the tariff classification of The Comfy, a wearable blanket. The motion was issued ahead of a bench trial on the classification of the item (Cozy Comfort Company v. U.S., CIT # 22-00173).
The Commerce Department said on remand at the Court of International Trade that Germany's Konzessionsabgabenverordnung (KAV) program, which exempts from a fee gas and power pipeline companies that sell electricity below a certain price, isn't de facto specific. The fees would otherwise be passed on to consumers. Commerce made the finding on Sept. 17 after being instructed by the trade court to conduct a de facto specificity analysis (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).
The U.S. and Kevin Ho, owner and director of importer Atria, have agreed to try and resolve a customs penalty action via stipulated judgment and are now working to negotiate a number Ho will pay, the parties said in a Sept. 16 status report. The development comes after Ho pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal proceeding in which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison (United States v. Chu-Chiang "Kevin" Ho, CIT # 19-00038).
Exporter ULMA Forja, S.Coop filed a complaint on Sept. 17 at the Court of International Trade to contest the Commerce Department's differential pricing analysis in the 2022-23 review of the antidumping duty order on finished carbon steel flanges from Spain (ULMA Forja, S.Coop v. United States, CIT # 24-00162).
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 17 sent back the Commerce Department's use of a quarterly cost methodology to analyze exporter Officine Tecnosider's sales during the 2020-21 review of the antidumping duty order on steel plate from Italy to address "shortcomings" in its analysis.