The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 11-17:
Federal Universal Service Fund
The FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to fund programs designed to provide universal telecommunications access to all U.S. citizens. All telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their end-user revenues to the Fund, which the FCC allocates for four core programs: 1. Connect America Fund, which subsidizes telecom providers for the increased costs of offering services to customers in rural and remote areas 2. Lifeline, which directly subsidizes low-income households to help pay for the cost of phone and internet service 3. Rural Health Care, which subsidizes health care providers to offer broadband telehealth services that can connect rural patients and providers with specialists located farther away 4. E-Rate, which subsidizes rural and low-income schools and libraries for internet and telecommunications costs The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) administers the USF on behalf of the FCC, but requires Congressional approval for its actions. Many states also operate their own universal service funds, which operate independently from the federal program.
Latest News on the Universal Service Fund
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 15 sent back down a lower court decision on the tariff classification of lockable doorknobs, finding the Court of International Trade improperly found them only classifiable as locks when it should have considered them as composite goods with characteristics of both locks and doorknobs.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 13 rejected a Commerce Department scope ruling that found Star Pipe’s ductile iron flanges subject to antidumping duties on non-malleable pipe fittings from China, ordering the agency to reconsider its findings in light of evidence that the products were not intended to be covered by the AD duty order.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 4-10:
The Court of International Trade recently overturned a Commerce Department scope ruling on whether lock washers found in assemblies are subject to antidumping duties. Commerce had in 2017 found lock washers incorporated into MacLean Power’s pole line hardware were subject to the AD duty order on helical spring lock washers from China, but CIT held that Commerce applied the scope too broadly, and that lock washers imported as part of distinct assembled products aren’t covered by AD duties.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 4 ruled against an importer in the third in a long-running series of cases on the tariff classification of Teva sandals. That importer, Deckers Corporation, again said its shoes should be classified as sports footwear, rather than as footwear with open toes or open heels, despite two earlier decisions, including by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that found to the contrary. CIT ruled that Deckers did not raise any new arguments that could override the appeals court’s binding precedent that sports footwear must have an enclosed upper.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 28 - Feb. 3:
Court of International Trade Judge Delissa Ridgway is now listed on the CIT website as an inactive senior judge. The change in status occurred on Jan. 31 and creates a new vacancy, Clerk of the Court Mario Toscano said in an email. Judge Kenton Musgrave also recently became an inactive senior judge, though that vacancy was filled when he previously became a senior judge.
The Commerce Department will decrease antidumping duty cash deposit rates in effect for three exporters of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from China (A-570-979), implementing a recent Court of International Trade decision that ordered Commerce to recalculate rates set in an administrative review completed in 2016, it said. As a result of its recalculation, AD duty cash deposit rates for BYD (Shangluo) Industrial Co., Ltd., Dongguan Sunworth Solar Energy Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Glory Industries Co., Ltd., will fall to 3.96% (from 8.52%). The new rate will apply to subject merchandise entered on or after Dec. 23, 2018.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 21-27: