Plaintiffs led by Bioparques de Occidente have jurisdiction to challenge the Commerce Department's decision to resume an antidumping duty investigation following the termination of a suspension agreement, the Court of International Trade ruled. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that no challenges to restarting investigations are valid unless part of a challenge to a final determination (see 2204140067), and Bioparques' case challenges a final determination, the court has jurisdiction to hear these claims.
The Court of International Trade on May 2 upheld a CBP Enforce and Protect Act investigation determination that found CEK Group had evaded an antidumping duty order on steel wire garment hangers from China. Judge Jane Restani noted that the standard for initiation of an EAPA investigation is low and that the "voluminous evidence" provided in M&B’s allegation met both the government’s and CEK’s proposed standards of "reasonable suggestion." It's also "undisputed" that during the investigation CEK and Thai exporter and manufacturer NWH failed to respond to CBP's information requests, justifying the use of adverse inferences, said Restani.
The Court of International Trade sent back the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the countervailing duty investigation on wood cabinets and vanities from China. After initially being instructed to find a practical solution to the issue of verifying non-use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, Commerce asked CVD respondents Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. and the Ancientree Cabinet Co. to submit all loan information for each U.S. customer. Meisen found the information irrelevant and did not submit it in the form requested by the agency, while Ancientree submitted loan information for around 90% of its customers. Judge Richard Eaton upheld the use of adverse facts available on Meisen but sent back the decision for Ancientree, finding that perfection is not required to verify non-use.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 2 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Court of International Trade upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in an antidumping duty review on activated carbon from China. In an April 28 opinion, Judge Mark Barnett said the court was satisfied with the agency's further explanation of its surrogate value selection for coal-based carbonized materials and its selection of financial statements used to calculate surrogate ratios.
The South Korean government doesn't provide a countervailable subsidy to the South Korean steel industry through the provision of electricity for less than adequate remuneration, the Court of International Trade ruled April 28. Judge Mark Barnett sustained the results of the Commerce Department's 2019 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. Barnett said Commerce has considerable leeway to make reasonable methodological choices like it did in the review.
The Commerce Department properly hit Greek exporter Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry with a 41.04% total adverse facts available antidumping duty rate, given that its reported costs were not reconciled to its normal books and records, the Court of International Trade ruled. Judge Leo Gordon said the law does not require Commerce to respond to Corinth's arguments on its use of total AFA, which the agency employed in the first instance amid the final results of the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 1 upheld the Commerce Department's valuation of an activated carbon input using data from a country different from the primary surrogate country. Judges Todd Hughes, Kara Stoll and Leonard Stark said that just because Commerce departed from what it typically does in preferring to take all the data from the primary surrogate country, this "does not mean that what it did do is unsupported by substantial evidence."
The EU opened compliance proceedings against the U.S. stemming from its alleged "failure to comply with" the World Trade Organization ruling on its countervailing duties covering ripe olives from Spain, the EU's Directorate-General for Trade announced last week. The proceedings' first step involves a "request for consultations" at the WTO with the U.S. with the goal of "reaching a negotiated settlement." If this measure fails, the EU can request a compliance panel. If the panel confirms noncompliance, the EU will be allowed to take "further measures," the bloc said.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 1 on AD/CVD proceedings: