Should the Commerce Department's ACCESS system go down while counsel is attempting to submit documents in a proceeding with the agency, the attorney should document everything to avoid consequences for missed deadlines, said Evangeline Keenan, director of the APO/dockets unit at Commerce, during panel discussion June 14 at the Georgetown Law International Trade Update conference. Speaking on the limits of the ACCESS platform, Keenan said that the agency "will take responsibility if ACCESS is causing problems," while noting that if the issue resides with the attorney's or paralegal's own internet access, then it's their responsibility.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade should reconsider its finding that the Commerce Department is prohibited from using a transaction-specific margin when employing total adverse facts available, antidumping duty petitioner American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring argued in a response to a U.S. motion for reconsideration. The petitioner said reconsideration is needed since the court "decided an issue that was not presented by any party" (Fusong Jinlong Wooden Group v. U.S., CIT # 19-00144).
The Commerce Department's ruling that GreenFirst Forest Products is the successor to Rayonier A.M. Canada (RYAM) in a changed circumstances review as part of an antidumping duty proceeding does not affect the agency's decision finding that GreenFirst is not RYAM's successor in the parallel countervailing duty proceeding, the U.S. said. Responding to GreenFirst's notice of supplemental authority at the Court of International Trade, the government said standards for initiating a CCR differ for AD and CVD cases (GreenFirst Forest Products v. U.S., CIT # 22-00097).
The Court of International Trade on June 14 dismissed a suit from three conservation groups seeking to compel the Interior Department to decide whether Mexico is engaging in illegal trade and fishing of the totoaba fish, which threatens the endangered vaquita porpoise. The parties reached a settlement in April under which the agency found that Mexican nationals are violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (see 2306020054). Due to this finding, the U.S. could impose an embargo on any goods coming from Mexico.
The Court of International Trade on June 14 granted importer Maple Leaf Marketing's bid to redesignate the U.S.'s counterclaim as a defense in a customs spat on the classification of boronized steel tubing. Dismissing Maple Leaf's bid to dismiss as moot, Judge Claire Kelly cited the court's Cyber Power Systems (USA) v. U.S. decision to find that nowhere in Congress' scheme on the classification of goods does the legislative body explicitly let the U.S. "assert a counterclaim challenging CBP's classification."
The Court of International Trade ordered that the parties in an antidumping duty case show cause that the court not remand the Commerce Department's decision to grant a constructed export price offset to the mandatory respondents in the 2019-20 administrative review on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea. Judge Timothy Reif said "it appears there may be interest" in a remand in light of Commerce's obligations under 19 U.S.C. Section 1677m(d) to promptly inform a respondent to a request for information of the nature of any deficiency in the response and give that respondent a chance to remedy the deficiency (Wheatland Tube v. United States, CIT # 22-00160).
Importer Greentech Energy Solutions is challenging CBP's decision to assess antidumping and countervailing duties on its 2019 imports of solar modules from Vietnam, despite no finding of dumping, subsidization or injury for Vietnam, nor even the existence of an an anti-circumvention inquiry at that time, Greentech said in a June 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Greentech Energy Solutions v. United States, CIT # 23-00118).
There is no requirement that an importer intentionally evade duties to be hit by an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, the Court of International Trade ruled in a June 13 opinion. Upholding CBP's finding that importers Ikadan System USA and Weihai Gaosai Metal Product Co. evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel grating from China, Judge Leo Gordon rejected the importers' claim that the definition of "evasion" requires a finding of some level of culpability.
The World Trade Organization is steadily headed towards irrelevancy to global trade and is facing a "long, slow sunset," said Peter Harrell, former senior director for international economics and competitiveness at the White House, during remarks at the Georgetown International Trade Update on June 13.