Brian Feito

On Dec. 22-25 the Foreign Agricultural Service issued the following GAIN reports:

The Bureau of Industry and Security issued orders denying the export privileges for 10 years of two Maryland men separately convicted of attempting the unauthorized export of guns and ammunition to Nigeria. Bonface Ibe was sentenced to five months in prison in 2011, already served, and will be denied export privileges until July 21, 2021. Emenike Nwankwoala was sentenced to 37 months in prison, also in 2011, and is still incarcerated. BIS denied Nwankwoala’s export privileges until Jan 3, 2021. The agency also revoked all licenses in which either man had an interest.

The Census Bureau is updating Automated Export System (AES) Port of Export Codes, effective Jan. 1, it said in an AES Broadcast. On that date, Port of Export Code 3382 for Natrona County International Airport, Wyo., will be removed; Port of Export Code 3332 for Casper, Wyo., will be added; and Port of Export Code 3386 for Gallatin Field User Fee Air, Bozeman, Mont., will be renamed to “Bozeman Yellowstone User Fee Airport, Belgrade, Mont.”

A waste-recycling company based in Englewood, Colo., and two of its executives, were convicted Dec. 21 of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, obstruction and environmental crimes related to illegally disposing electronic waste and smuggling, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Executive Recycling Inc. and its officers allegedly defrauded government and businesses by saying that it was disposing of cathode ray tubes (CRT) using Environmental Protection Agency-approved methods in the U.S., while it was actually exporting the waste abroad.

The Court of International Trade rejected plaintiff Tianjin Magnesium International’s request for reconsideration of CIT’s Nov. 21 affirmance of a remand redetermination of the 2008-09 antidumping administrative review of pure magnesium from China (A-570-832). In affirming the remand, CIT had said TMI committed fraud during the AD review in an attempt to obtain lower dumping margins, and continued its misleading conduct during the court case by continuing to argue points that it had failed to exhaust during the review, ordering TMI to pay costs. Despite its failure to comment on the remand redetermination, TMI requested reconsideration because it said it had no opportunity to comment. CIT rejected that argument, noting that the schedule for a response had been extended at TMI’s request. “As a final courtesy, TMI is once again warned that its frivolous conduct is unacceptable and potentially within the scope of the court’s authority to impose sanctions,” threatened CIT.

The Court of International Trade remanded aspects of the 2008-09 antidumping administrative review of tapered roller bearings from China (A-570-601), including the International Trade Administration’s determination that respondent Peer Bearing Company-Changshan’s (CPZ) bearings processed in Thailand are of Chinese origin, and are therefore subject merchandise. The ITA relied on irrelevant criteria in finding the bearings to be of Chinese origin, such as whether the Thai bearings were of the same “class or kind” of merchandise as the Chinese parts, CIT said. The agency also failed to back up its claim that the Thai processing did not add significant value, it said. CIT ordered the ITA to rely only on “criteria relevant to whether the parts exported to Thailand were substantially transformed” in its redetermination.

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Dec. 26, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://1.usa.gov/VxGCVA. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)

President Barack Obama added South Sudan as an African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiary, and removed Mali and Guinea-Bissau as AGOA beneficiaries, in Presidential Proclamation 8921, signed Dec. 20. The proclamation also removes St. Kitts and Nevis as a Generalized System of Preferences beneficiary, extends duty-free treatment for some Israeli agricultural goods pursuant to the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement (USIFTA), and makes technical corrections and conforming changes to Harmonized Tariff Schedule provisions for U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (USCFTA) rules of origin, the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KFTA), and GSP ineligible country-product pairs. Most of the HTS changes are effective Jan. 1.

The International Trade Commission is beginning an investigation of the effects of import restraints on U.S. consumers and firms, the income and employment of U.S. workers, and the net economic welfare of the U.S., as well as the contribution of services to manufacturing. The resulting report will be the eighth update of the original report on import restraints delivered to the U.S. Trade Representative in 1993. The investigation will not assess import restraints resulting from antidumping or countervailing duty investigations, section 337 and 406 investigations, or section 301 actions, the ITC said. Comments are due by April 12, and the ITC plans a public hearing in connection with this investigation on March 19.

The International Trade Commission is asking for comments by Feb. 22 on proposed changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule affecting Chapters 29, 30, 37 and 85. The proposals would implement World Customs Organization Harmonized System changes that were mistakenly omitted from earlier HTS modifications, and would also correct mistakes in the classification of some chemical products. Affected products would include sensitized photographic film, video game console controllers, and chemical compounds.