Akin Gump added Cindy Owens, previously with Covington & Burling, as a counsel in its international trade practice, the firm said in a news release. Owens “represents multinational clients on customs matters, including classification, valuation, country of origin, drawback, transfer pricing, foreign trade zones, bonded warehouses, free trade agreements and general entry process requirements,” it said.
The State Department fined a U.S. aerospace and technology company $13 million for illegally exporting technical data to several countries, including China, according to a May 3 order. Honeywell International sent drawings of parts for military-related items, including for engines of military jets and bombers, the agency said, all of which were controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. After discovering the violations, issuing a self-disclosure to the State Department and bolstering its compliance program, the company again illegally exported technical drawings, failing to abide by its improved compliance requirements, the order said.
Truck and bus tire exporter Guizhou Tyre Co. cited a recent Court of International Trade opinion to argue that it should be given an individual dumping rate in an antidumping investigation of truck and bus tires from China, in an April 30 notice of supplemental authority. Drawing on CIT's April 29 opinion in Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. U.S. (see 2104300079), Guizhou claimed that an argument it made in its own case in CIT directly mirrors one accepted by the court about how de facto government control is determined by the Commerce Department.
Greater Rewards, Broader Application of False Claims Act Should Elicit Importer Caution, Sidley Says
At the same time that trade-related False Claims Act cases cover an increasing number of types of allegations against importers and exporters, the rewards doled out to whistleblowers seems to be on the rise, Sidley Austin said in an April 29 analysis. Discussing increasing trade exposure in FCA cases in part two of a series on the practice (see 2104210028), Sidley said there is a trend of increased payout size. "These factors foreshadow an increase in trade-related FCA actions in the near future,” the firm said.
A newly issued CBP ruling further clarifies how the agency determines country of origin for electric motors. After having recently found that the stator and the rotor are the “most essential components” of an electric motor and, under a substantial transformation analysis, determine the country of origin (see 2104210041), the agency on April 22 issued another ruling that considered motors where the rotor and stator were made in different countries, and found the stator assembly controlling.
With increased False Claims Act enforcement, an executive willing to get more aggressive on fraud enforcement, and legislative action expanding the FCA's reach expected, trade exposure to FCA risk has nowhere to go but up, lawyers from Sidley Austin said. In an April 20 analysis, Sidley discussed recent trends in the so-called "reverse false claim," which focuses on money owed to the government rather than by it.
Following a Court of International Trade opinion that appeared to question first sale import valuations from non-market economies, the court's observations may not be as disruptive as they first appear, KPMG said in an April 19 analysis. The judge's questioning of whether first sale could be used on non-market economies was non-binding and an issue only lightly explored at the agency level and during litigation, the firm said.