Importer Acquisition 362, d/b/a Strategic Import Supply (SIS), filed a petition for writ of certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion requiring protests to be filed within 180 days of liquidation and not the date the Commerce Department issues antidumping and countervailing duty instructions to CBP. SIS said that by establishing this requirement, the appellate court eliminated one statutory mechanism under which importers can file protests and encourages "premature, incomplete, sham protest filings" (Acquisition 362 v. U.S., U.S. # 22-1102).
The Court of International Trade ruled that exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari (Erdemir) failed to show that the court should revisit its past order allowing four U.S. steel companies to intervene in a case on the International Trade Commission's injury determination related to imports of hot-rolled steel from Turkey. Judge Timothy Reif said the four companies champion claims that share a common question of law or fact with the case's main action, would be adversely affected if the court were to rule in Erdemir's favor and would not unduly delay the adjudication of the original parties' rights.
The Court of International Trade ruled that Turkish exporter Erdemir failed to show the court should revisit its past order allowing four U.S. steel companies to intervene in a case on the International Trade Commission's injury determination on imports of hot-rolled steel from Turkey. Judge Timothy Reif said the four companies make arguments that share a common question of law or fact with the case's main action, would be adversely affected if the court were to rule in Erdemir's favor and would not unduly delay the adjudication of the original parties' rights. However, Reif continued to deny U.S. Steel Corp.'s right to intervene, finding the company did not explain how it would be adversely affected by the decision.
The Court of International Trade should reconsider its opinion on the origin of Cyber Power Systems (USA)'s uninterruptible power supplies because the court shirked its responsibility to arrive at the correct determination, the importer said in a reply brief. Even though the trade court ruled against Cyber Power's position that its power supplies are made in the Philippines, it did not take the next step to determine the goods' actual origin, making "no findings of fact regarding manufacture in China," Cyber Power said (Cyber Power Systems (USA) v. United States, CIT # 20-00124).
Importer WHP Associates evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on thermal paper from China, Germany and Korea by transshipment through Malaysia, according to a recently released notice from CBP. In an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, CBP found substantial evidence showed that Malaysian company Actan transshipped Korean, German,and Chinese-origin thermal paper through Malaysia that was then imported by WHP with a false country of origin claim.
Byungmin Chae filed a petition May 9 for a rehearing of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion that landed him one question shy of passing the customs broker exam he took in April 2018. The multiple choice question asked which mail articles are not subject to CBP examination or inspection (Byungmin Chae v. Janet Yellen, Fed. Cir. # 22-2017).
Importer Farrier Product Distribution settled its case originally challenging Section 232 steel and aluminum duties on "derivative" products, securing refunds of the duties, the company told the Court of International Trade in a motion to voluntarily dismiss its case. Farrier said the parties sought to "resolve the legal controversy that gave rise to this matter," adding that the U.S. and the importer have been "successful in that effort" (Farrier Product Distribution v. United States, CIT # 20-00098).
Commerce should not have excluded sales of certain cylinders sold by Sahamitr Pressure Container in its home market or used the average-to-transaction (A-T) price comparison method in its calculations, the Thai exporter said in a May 8 complaint to the Court of International Trade. SMPC asked the trade court to declare that Commerce's exclusion of certain cylinders from the calculation as out of scope, as well as and its use of the A-T price comparison method, was in error and to remand the results to Commerce (Sahamitr Pressure Container v. United States, CIT # 23-00077).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department illegally failed to revoke the antidumping duty order on softwood lumber from Canada for exporter Resolute FP Canada in the expedited first sunset review of the AD order, the exporter argued in a complaint at the Court of International Trade. The four-count suit says that Commerce unlawfully said Resolute FP was selling merchandise below value via its use of the Cohen's d test, which found the company to be guilty of "masked" dumping, and zeroing (Resolute FP Canada v. United States, CIT # 23-00095).