The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an Oct. 3 order gave the U.S. an additional 4,000 words for its reply brief in a spat over whether the president can revoke a safeguard exemption granted for bifacial solar panels. The government originally sought to double its word count to 14,000, though the appellees in the matter, led by the Solar Energy Industries Association, proposed to limit the bid to 11,000 (see 2209190057). Judge Jimmie Reyna sided with the appellees (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1392).
The Commerce Department failed to adhere to the Court of International Trade's remand instructions concerning its duty to perform verification in an antidumping duty case, plaintiffs led by Bonney Forge argued in an Oct. 3 brief at the Court of International Trade. The trade court ordered Commerce to either conduct verification, even if virtually, or more fully explain why it cannot in the context of current conditions and not those of the investigation period. Bonney Forge argued that Commerce violated these instructions by basing its remand results on the conditions during the investigation (Bonney Forge Corporation v. United States, CIT #20-03837).
Importer Bral failed to clear the three-prong test needed to make a valid claim for an allowance in value for imports of plywood, the U.S. argued in an Oct. 3 reply brief at the Court of International Trade over its cross-motion for judgment. While Bral is correct that it does not make commercial sense to contract for defective goods, the importer needs to prove at a minimum that it entered into a contract with the overseas plywood producer for a good of specific qualities that is to perform in a certain way -- a bar Bral failed to meet, the brief said (Bral Corporation v. U.S., CIT #20-00154).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate Oct. 3 in a case on whether the Commerce Department can make a particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test when calculating normal value. In the Federal Circuit's August opinion, the appeals court cited its previous rejection of the appellants' claims in the Hyundai Steel v. U.S. case. In the present action, the appellants, led by American Cast Iron Pipe, sought to differentiate its case from Hyundai Steel by arguing they are appealing an original investigation while the Hyundai Steel action challenged an administrative review. The Federal Circuit said this does not result in a different outcome (see 2208260040) (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1502).
The U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 3 order denied Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's petition for certiorari over his sanctions designation. The move comes shortly after he, along with his associates, were charged with conspiring to violate his sanctions listing. The court rejected the cert motion without issuing any further explanation.
The Court of International Trade should dismiss a case seeking to release goods excluded over forced labor concerns with the stipulation that CBP allow the goods to be exported, plaintiff Virtus Nutrition said in a Sept. 29 brief at the Court of International Trade. Responding to the trade court's order to show cause why the action should not be tossed for a lack of prosecution, Virtus said that it does not oppose dismissal, and in fact favors it, provided that it be allowed to export the excluded palm oil shipments in accordance with the terms of the agreement signed between Virtus and CBP in February 2021 (Virtus Nutrition v. United States, CIT #21-00165).
Importer TCW Trends and the U.S. signed a stipulation of dismissal submitted Sept. 30 to the Court of International Trade in a customs spat over men's knit tops and pants. TCW filed the case to argue that its tops and pants were made in a Qualifying Industrial Zone in Alexandria, Egypt, making the goods eligible for preferential duty-free treatment under General Note 3(a)(v) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The entries were liquidated under HTS subheading 6103.43.15 and 6105.20.20. TCW Trends argued that CBP's finding that the merchandise didn't meet the duty-free eligibility requirements under the QIZ program was contrary to law (TCW Trends v. United States, CIT #12-00166).
The Court of International Trade should stay proceedings in a case challenging President Donald Trump's reversal of a tariff exclusion on bifacial solar panels pending resolution of a similar matter, plaintiffs JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. and Jinko Solar (U.S.) Industries argued in an unopposed stay motion (JinkoSolar (U.S.) Inc. v. United States, CIT #22-00241). The case should be halted until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit settles Solar Energy Industries Association, et al. v. United States, the brief said. In that case, the trade court found that the statute did not allow further trade-restricting measures once a tariff exclusion had been put in place (see 2111160032).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade: