Importer Inspired Ventures moved the Court of International Trade for a mediator in its case against CBP's decision to put two of its rubber tire entries on hold under suspicions that the goods had a high risk of tariff evasion. Inspired Ventures said the issue is "ripe for settlement" in light of the government's concession that CBP erred in detaining the tires (Inspired Ventures v. United States, CIT # 24-00062).
The Commerce Department continued to exclude certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made from Chinese fittings that underwent production in Vietnam from the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade on May 2, Commerce assessed various (k)(1) sources, namely the original 1991 petition, the 1992 International Trade Commission report, a prior circumvention finding and statements from industry officials upon direction from the court (Tube Forgings of America v. United States, CIT # 23-00231).
The Court of International Trade on May 6 upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's 2020-21 review of the countervailing duty order on phosphate fertilizer from Russia. Judge Jane Restani remanded Commerce's benchmark calculations for the provision of phosphate rock mining rights for less than adequate remuneration and natural gas for LTAR programs. The judge said Commerce improperly excluded data on phosphate rock taken from sedimentary reserves and erred in using sales of natural gas from Kazakhstan to Russia. However, Restani sustained the use of data only from 2021 to calculate the mining rights subsidy, calculation of respondent JSC Apatit's phosphate rock cost of sales plus profit, and use of adverse facts available to find that Apatit's natural gas suppliers were government authorities.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 5 on AD/CVD proceedings:
After Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Stanceu remanded, for the second time, a de facto specificity finding regarding a tax penalties and fines relief program used by Moroccan exporter OCP that he called “absurd,” the Commerce Department reluctantly reversed course April 29 (The Mosaic Company v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 21-00116)..
Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif heard oral arguments April 30 regarding an affirmative evasion finding for countertop importer Vanguard Trading Co. Among other things, the case challenges the strict liability standard CBP has established for importers regarding evasion and CBP’s ability to decide when it must seek scope clarification from the Commerce Department during EAPA investigations (Vanguard Trading Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00253).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 2 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Andrew Dhuey, a patent attorney and court-appointed amicus, defended Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden's decision not to redact information deemed confidential by the International Trade Commission in one of his decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In an April 28 brief, Dhuey argued that 19 U.S.C. 1516a(b)(2)(B) explicitly gave Vaden discretion to disclose the contested materials (In Re United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1566).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 1 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: