The European Commission on April 10 released an updated report on "significant state-induced distortions" in China's economy, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. The report will allow EU industry to "use the most up-to-date information on the Chinese economy and on specific circumstances of the market" when filing antidumping petitions.
The U.S. last week transferred thousands of weapons and rounds of ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces that were confiscated from unflagged vessels en route to Yemen from Iran as part of a civil forfeiture action, DOJ announced on April 9. The shipment included "over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, and RPG-7s, and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition."
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on April 10 rejected the preferred tariff classification of notebooks with calendars from both CBP and importer Blue Sky the Color of Imagination, slotting the products under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.20.10 as "diaries." Judge Jane Restani explained that the court should prefer readings of the HTS that establish "conformity" across both the English and French translations of the Harmonized System.
The Court of International Trade on April 10 remanded the Commerce Department's use of a 10.54% adverse facts available rate for alleged benefits exporter Yama Ribbons and Bows Co. received from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Timothy Stanceu agreed with Yama that the agency failed to show that the subsidy program from which the rate was taken -- preferential lending rates to China's coated paper industry program -- is similar to the EBCP.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina last week sentenced Alan Nordman, a former CBP employee and North Carolina resident, to one year of probation for illegally selling a customs declaration form signed by a celebrity, Michael Jackson. Judge Kenneth Bell penned the order, which also said that Nordman shall forfeit his interest in the customs form. The North Carolina man pleaded guilty in November to one count of conveyance of a government record for auctioning the form on eBay, where it sold for $795 in 2022.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. on April 8 moved to dismiss a customs suit from importer UniChem Enterprises for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. It said no protestable decision was made on the lone entry of 7-keto dehydroepiandrosterone (7-Keto DHEA) because the shipment is detained pending a decision by the Drug Enforcement Administration (UniChem Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 24-00033).
Chinese exporter Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to "re-visit and question" the Commerce Department's basis for its non-market economy policy in antidumping duty proceedings. The exporter noted that the policy "has reigned for over twenty years without serious legal challenge," arguing that the appellate court has never directly reckoned with the policy's legality and that it's "high time" for such a review (Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2245).
Former Venezuelan General Cliver Antonio Alcala Cordones was sentenced to 260 months in prison on April 8 for "providing material support" to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. Starting in around 2006, Alcala Cordones leveraged his position in the military to aid the FARC, including by providing "high-powered weapons to the FARC." He pleaded guilty to "providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization" and transferring firearms with reasonable cause to believe they "would be used to commit a federal crime of terrorism."