Panels need only two layers of veneer to be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China (A-570-051/C-570-052), the Commerce Department said in a preliminary scope ruling issued Aug. 26. Chinese two-ply panels processed into plywood in Vietnam by adding face and back veneers, then exported by Finewood Company Limited, a Vietnamese exporter implicated in an Enforce and Protect Act evasion investigation, are still of Chinese origin after the processing and are covered by AD/CV duties, Commerce said. Comments are due on or about Sept. 15.
CBP made a final determination that Amlink Sourcing evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on lightweight thermal paper from China (A-570-920/C-570-921) by misdeclaring subject goods as not covered by any AD/CVD orders and, as a result, failing to pay cash deposits on the merchandise.
The Commerce Department can’t deny a Dominican aluminum extrusions exporter’s scope ruling request on the basis that CBP has already ruled on the merchandise in an Enforce and Protect Act evasion investigation, the exporter, Kingtom Aluminum, said in a letter filed with Commerce in early August.
CBP deprived Norca Industrial Company of its due process rights and engaged in "unlawful speculation" when finding that Norca evaded antidumping duties, the company said in its motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. Another in a long line of importers to challenge the constitutionality of the Enforce and Protect Act process, Norca argued that CBP failed to grant it proper access to the record evidence during the investigation and based its determination on allegations of document discrepancies that the agency never gave the importer a chance to explain (Norca Industrial Company, LLC et al. v. U.S., CIT #21-00192).
Substantial evidence shows that Lyke Industrial Tool evaded antidumping duties on imported diamond sawbaldes from China, CBP said in a recent notice of final determination. The determination is a result of an Enforce and Protect Act allegation from the Diamond Sawblades Manufacturers' Coalition, which filed the allegation with CBP in 2018. CBP's review involved Thai manufacturer Like Tools. "Several facts influenced CBP’s determination as to evasion in this case," the agency said. "These facts include repeated observations by CBP officials that Like Tools covered 'Made in China' labels on covered merchandise and inputs with 'Made in Thailand' labels; discrepancies between Lyke’s [request for information] responses and CBP’s findings at verification;" and "the inability of Lyke and Like Tools to demonstrate Like Tools’ transfer of ownership," it said. A lawyer for Lyke, Lizbeth Levinson of Fox Rothschild, said by email that the company disagrees with the determination and plans "to appeal through the administrative review process."
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Plaintiffs, led by American Pacific Plywood, that stand accused of evading antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China vigorously challenged CBP's finding of evasion in an Aug. 5 brief backing their motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. In another case going after CBP's alleged violations of due process in Enforce and Protect Act investigations (see 2107010085), the plaintiffs argued that CBP's missteps are not merely procedural mistakes, but rather a "failure of essential process that led to profound harm." The violations are so egregious that they "would be unacceptable in any country that prides itself on democratic process -- and for the United States, they are a travesty," the brief said (American Pacific Plywood, Inc. et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-03914).
An Enforce and Protect Act investigation into alleged antidumping or countervailing duty evasion by a cabinet importer didn't produce evidence that the evasion was happening, CBP said in a July 21 notice of determination. The investigation involved BGI Group, which does business as U.S. Cabinet Depot and was alleged to have shipped wooden cabinet and vanities (WCV) "subject to the AD/CVD Orders to Cambodian company Cambodia Golden Coast Wood Products Co., Ltd." for "repackaging and exporting the Chinese-origin merchandise to BGI." Based on the information on the record of the investigation, "including the absence of sufficient additional evidence of evasion obtained subsequent to the [notice of investigation], CBP finds that substantial evidence does not exist that BGI entered into the customs territory of the United States WCV manufactured in China that had been transshipped through Cambodia during the period of this EAPA investigation."
The U.S. requested the chance to take another look at an Enforce and Protect Act investigation to consider documents that were not sent from one CBP office to another, in a July 30 motion for remand in the Court of International Trade. The agency also sought the remand in light of the court's decision in Royal Brush v. United States, in which CIT held that CBP failed to provide adequate public summaries of business confidential information (BCI) (see 2012020050). The plaintiff in the case, Leco Supply, opposed the remand request, arguing that it is "too broad to be justifiable" under the court's standards for allowing remands (Leco Supply, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00136).
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