The Commerce Department legally excluded importer Siffron's plastic shelf dividers from the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on raw flexible magnets from China, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Sept. 26 opinion. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that Commerce reasonably determined that the scope language and the (k)(1) sources, including prior scope rulings and a report from the International Trade Commission, established that the dividers didn't belong in the scope of the orders.
The Commerce Department properly hit exporter SeAH Steel Corp. with adverse facts available due to its failure to submit information on its use of the Korean Export-Import Bank Performance Guarantee program prior to the countervailing duty investigation period, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Sept. 26 opinion.
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 26 opinion remanded the Commerce Department's 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on corrosion-resistant steel products from South Korea. Judge M. Miller Baker said that Commerce incorrectly found that the South Korean government's provision of port-usage rights to respondent Hyundai Steel Co. was a countervailable benefit. Since the exporter built the port and was given the right to collect third-party fees in exchange, the port-usage rights are not a benefit but more akin to "consideration."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 25 issued its mandate in a case concerning a $5.7 million customs penalty suit against importer Katana Racing. In the opinion, the appellate court said the Court of International Trade improperly dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction (see 2308030034). The trade court said Katana properly revoked a statute of limitations waiver, making the U.S. government's suit untimely, but the appellate court said the statute of limitations is "not a jurisdictional time limit" and instead provides an "affirmative defense" that can be waived (U.S. v. Katana Racing, Fed. Cir. # 22-1832).
The Commerce Department reasonably explained its decision to include in-transmit mattresses in its quarterly ratio calculations for an antidumping duty investigation on mattresses from Indonesia, AD petitioner Brooklyn Bedding said in Sept. 22 remand comments at the Court of International Trade. Respondent Zinus "points to nothing in the statute or Department practice that requires CEP inventory items to be 'physically held' by the seller at the time of sale," Brooklyn Bedding said (PT. Zinus Global Indonesia v. U.S., CIT # 21-00277).
The Commerce Department correctly reversed its use of adverse facts on remand in an antidumping duty review on imported steel nails from Oman, both DOJ and respondent Oman Fasteners said in two sets of remand comments, both filed Sept. 22 at the Court of International Trade (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 22-00348).
The Commerce Department improperly included sales made by exporter Megaa Moda in the calculation of normal value as part of the 2021-2022 review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from India, petitioner Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee said in a Sept. 25 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Ad Hoc Shrimp Trade Action Committee v. United States, CIT # 23-00202).
US Rails Against Importer's 'Myriad of Unsupported' Claims on Classification of Steel Conduit Tubing
Importer Shamrock Building Materials laid out a "myriad of unsupported and unpersuasive arguments" against the Court of International Trade's finding that electrical conduit is properly classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 7306, the U.S. argued in a Sept. 22 reply brief. The government said the heading, which provides for "other tubes, pipes and hollow profiles" of iron or steel, exactly describes the electrical conduit, and that heading 8547, which covers "electric conduit tubing lined with insulating material," does not fit the bill (Shamrock Building Materials v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1648).
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 26 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation into oil country tubular goods from South Korea. Judge Mark Barnett said Commerce properly hit exporter SeAH Steel Corp. with adverse facts available due to its failure to submit information on its use of the Korean Export-Import Bank Performance Guarantee program prior to the investigation period. The judge said that while a "plain-text reading of Commerce's" instructions shows that the exporter was only required to submit information from the 2020 review period, it falls on the respondent "to clarify its understanding of Commerce's directive" instead of relying on its own interpretation.
The Commerce Department legally excluded importer Siffron's plastic shelf dividers from the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on raw flexible magnets from China, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Sept. 26 opinion. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said Commerce reasonably determined that the scope language and the (k)(1) sources, including prior scope rulings and a report from the International Trade Commission, established that the dividers did not belong in the scope of the orders.