The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer Performance Additives will appeal a May Court of International Trade decision finding that a duty drawback claim becomes deemed liquidated after one year if the underlying import entries are also liquidated and final, with finality defined as the end of the 180-day window in which to file a protest with CBP (see 2405310073). Judge Jane Restani said that as a result one of Performance Additives' drawback claims was deemed liquidated but another of its claims wasn't, since its entries weren't liquidated and final within one year of the claim being made. The importer will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Performance Additives v. United States, CIT # 22-00044).
A hardwood plywood importer that won its 2022 case against an affirmative evasion finding is seeking payment of its court expenses and attorney’s fees from the U.S. government. The importer on July 8 said CBP’s investigation against it had never been supported by substantial evidence and was instead the result of “bad acts” and “various violations of federal regulations” by the government (Interglobal Forest v. U.S., CIT # 22-00240).
CBP was right to reverse its finding that an aluminum extrusions exporter from the Dominican Republic had been transshipping from China, the Court of International Trade ruled in a public opinion released July 10. Judge Richard Eaton agreed that the agency had properly considered some overlooked evidence and recontextualized others -- conducting, as CBP had said, a “thorough and comprehensive” review of the previous determination “for the first time in this proceeding” (H&E Home v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 21-00337).
The Court of International Trade on July 10 granted in part and denied in part Chinese printer cartridge exporter Ninestar Corp.'s motion to unseal and unredact the confidential record in the company's suit against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Judge Gary Katzmann kept most of the confidential information in the case from the public, save for an eight-page chunk of the confidential record, which describes the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force's "standard operating procedures." Katzmann also kept most of the privileged information on the record away from Ninestar's counsel, with a few exceptions, on the grounds that, if revealed, the information would endanger a key informant.
The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio didn't evade antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In a June 13 decision made public July 8, Judge Richard Eaton said Kingtom responded to all U.S. requests for information during an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, precluding the use of adverse facts available. He also said the court can't ignore "the total lack of any record evidence of any imports by Kingtom into the Dominican Republic" of aluminum extrusions made in China.
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
Antidumping petitioner American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee on July 8 dropped its lawsuit at the Court of International Trade on the 2021-22 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece. The petitioner brought its suit to claim that the Commerce Department accidentally included offsets for scrap not produced during the investigation period in its calculation of an exporter's normal value (see 2402200076). Counsel for the petitioner didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 24-00012).
The U.S. and exporters led by Risen Energy Co. agreed July 8 to dismiss a case on the 2017 review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1524). The government appealed the Court of International Trade decision siding with Risen on the agency's land benchmark calculation and use of adverse facts available pertaining to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (see 2312200026) (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03912).
The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit July 8 that its decision not to appear in an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case "has no effect on the Court's standard of review." Filing a supplemental brief as an amicus at the invitation of the court, the government said its decision not to join the appeal "merely reflects its reasoned consideration not to pursue the appellate process" (Worldwide Door Components v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1532) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1534).