Alleged Transshipper Denied Right to Intervene in EAPA Challenge in CIT
Dominican aluminum extrusion manufacturer Kingtom Aluminio SRL will not be allowed to intervene in a Court of International Trade case in which it is alleged to be involved in a transshipment scheme to avoid antidumping duties, according to a June 21 order. Kingtom did not establish that its interest in continuing to sell aluminum extrusions to the importer plaintiffs without duties is an "interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action," as required by the court's rules. Kingtom also did not have a claim that shares with the main action -- a challenge of an Enforce and Protect Act" investigation -- a common question of law or fact (Global Aluminum Distributor LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00198).
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In the underlying EAPA investigation, CBP determined that importers Global Aluminum Distributor and Hialeah Aluminum Supply transshipped aluminum extrusions through Kingtom in the Dominican Republic. Global Aluminum and Hialeah say that Kingtom was the original manufacturer. Global Aluminum and Hialeah filed the CIT lawsuit after CBP made an affirmative finding of evasion. The EAPA alleger Ta Chen opposed Kingtom's bid to intervene since it was not a party to the EAPA investigation and has “no protectable interest in those imports" (see 2106160042).