Porsche Motorsport North America can't claim duty-free treatment of its auto parts and tools under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9801.00.85, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 30 opinion. The subheading is meant for goods temporarily exported for use in a trade and then returned to the U.S. Judge Stephen Vaden said that Porsche failed to clear the first criteria for use of the subheading since it sold some of its auto parts in Canada, despite re-importing the unsold goods.
The Commerce Department violated the law when it initiated an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation into quartz surface products from India since it didn't have the requisite industry support, importer M S International told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its Dec. 20 opening brief. Urging the appellate court to overturn a Court of International Trade decision that found that Commerce legally interpreted what constitutes a "producer" of QSPs, MSI argued that Commerce erred by excluding fabricators from the industry support calculation (Pokarna Engineered Stone Limited v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1077).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 3 sustained the Commerce Department's second remand results in the 2016-2017 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on welded line pipe from South Korea. The court previously remanded Commerce's decision to calculate respondent NEXTEEL Co.'s costs of non-prime products based on their resale value and then reallocate the difference between the resale value and actual costs of making non-prime goods to the costs of prime products in calculating constructed value. On remand, Commerce used NEXTEEL's actual costs for non-prime products.
The Court of International Trade stayed proceedings in a countervailing duty case brought by PAO TMK, a member of the TMK group companies, in a Dec. 29 order. The case concerns the CVD investigation into seamless pipe from Russia, in which the Commerce Department found that TMK received countervailable subsidies through the provision of natural gas and through loans from Russian state-owned banks. Following a consent motion to stay, the trade court stayed the action until 75 days after the final ruling in the case and all subsequent remands (PAO TMK v. U.S., CIT #21-00531).
The Court of International Trade consolidated two cases contesting the Commerce Department's final results in the seventh administrative review of the countervailing duty order on crystaline silicon photovoltaic cells from China, according to a Dec. 29 order. The two cases were brought by Wuxi Tianran Photovoltaic Co. and Shanghai JA Solar Technology Co. Both cases challenge Commerce's use of adverse facts available relating to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program -- a position that has been ruled against by the trade court (see 2110200049). The order came following a joint status report that said that all parties agree that the two cases should be consolidated under the one brought by Wuxi Tianran. The order accompanying the joint status report partially lays out the briefing schedule, requiring motions for judgment to be filed by March 9, 2022 (Wuxi Tianran Photovoltaic Co. v. U.S., CIT #21-00538).
The Court of International Trade reassigned five customs cases brought by Continental Automotive Systems from Judge Timothy Stanceu to Judge Jane Restani, in a Dec. 28 order signed by Judge Mark Barnett. Originally filed in 2017 and 2018, the cases concern the proper Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of Continental's probe element of nitric oxide sensors -- a mass-produced element of NOx sensors, designed for use in consumer passenger vehicles and trucks. Four of the five were placed under a test case. The Department of Justice filed its cross motion for summary judgment Dec. 22 (Continental Automotive Systems v. U.S., CIT #18-00026). The order didn't give a reason for the reassignment.
Antidumping duty petitioner and defendant-appellant Welspun Tubular filed an unopposed motion Dec. 28 for an extension of time to request a full-court rehearing on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision that the Commerce Department can no longer make a particular market situation adjustment to an AD respondent's cost of production in a sales-below-cost test for the purposes of calculating normal value (see 2112100039). The ruling affirmed a host of Court of International Trade opinions that said the PMS adjustment is reserved solely for constructed value. Petitions for en banc rehearings in the case are due Jan. 9, and Welspun is requesting that this deadline be pushed to Feb. 8 (Hyundai Steel v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #21-1748).
The Commerce Department didn't follow the Court of International Trade's instructions when it continued to find the all-others rate in an antidumping duty investigation by averaging a respondent's zero percent margin and the high China-wide rate, the consolidated plaintiffs, led by Zhejiang Dehua TB Import & Export, argued in a Dec. 29 brief. The plaintiffs blasted Commerce's justification for the move -- that it had a limited record for calculating the separate rate respondents' actual rates -- since "this deficiency is of Commerce's own making" (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #18-00002).
CBP will suspend liquidation for entries of solar cells subject to Section 201 safeguard duties over the past 10-15 months, following to a Court of International Trade decision that invalidated a Trump-era increase in safeguard duty rates on solar cells and the withdrawal of an exemption for bifacial cells (see 2111170038), CBP said in a CSMS message Dec. 27.
Counsel for pencil importer Royal Brush Manufacturing resubmitted its entry of appearance at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Dec. 23, attempting to bring its filing in line with court rules. The appellate court previously found that the notice was not in compliance with court rules since the filing party, Ronald Oleynik of Holland & Knight, didn't have an electronic filing account (see 2112160069). In the updated filing, Steven Gordon was listed as principal counsel for Royal Brush (Royal Brush Manufacturing, Inc. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1226).