The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 28 order denied a motion to sever filed by exporters led by Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech. Judge Leo Gordon denied the motion without prejudice. The exporters asked to be severed from the joint case on the antidumping duty investigation on steel cut-to-length plate from Germany since its claims have been resolved by the court (see 2309270037). Salzgitter said its case has "no overlap" with the one brought by lead plaintiff AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke, noting that disposition of Dillinger's remaining claims will take a significant amount of time (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 17-00158).
Steel importer NLMK Pennsylvania opposed U.S. Steel Corporation's bid to file an amicus curiae brief in a case on the Commerce Department's refusal to grant the importer exclusion from Section 232 steel and aluminum duties, arguing that there is no role for an amicus at this stage of the case. Telling the court that U.S. Steel is "donning sheep's clothing" in "asking for permission to enter as an amicus," even though the parties "wish to settle their dispute," meaning there is no issue in controversy at play (NLMK Pennsylvania v. United States, CIT # 21-00507).
International trade law firm Cassidy Levy hired Amy DeArmond, former director of government affairs at Leggett & Platt, to serve as the director of government affairs at the firm, Cassidy Levy announced in an email. DeArmond's experience centers on proceedings in front of the Commerce Department, the International Trade Commission, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, CBP and DHS. The firm said she helped put together a coalition strategy to "secure passage of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015."
The European Commission appointed Miranda de Meijer of the Netherlands to be a new prosecutor in the European Public Prosecutor's Office. De Meijer is a former public prosecutor and criminal lawyer, most recently serving as a senior advocate-general at the Netherlands' Public Prosecution Service. Her term as a European prosecutor will run for six years beginning Nov. 1 and is nonrenewable. The European Public Prosecutor's Office investigates and prosecutes crimes pertaining to the EU's financial interests, including fraud, corruption and major cross-border value-added tax fraud.
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 28 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's treatment of "shipping revenue, incentive income, interest income and rental income" in setting the selling, general and administrative expense ratio using Turkish firm Ayes Celikhashir VE CT's financial statements.
The Commerce Department amended its regulations on administrative protective orders and serving documents in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings. The changes make service of public documents, public versions of business proprietary documents and proprietary documents via electronic transmission the default method of alternative service "when service cannot be effectuated on ACCESS or when ACCESS is unavailable."
The Court of International Trade's "unique and unprecedented interpretation" of an "other" provision in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule comes from a "false premise" that would greatly expand its scope throughout the HTS, importer Nature's Touch Frozen Foods argued in its Sept. 27 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Seeking its preferred classification of frozen fruit mixtures, the importer said the trade court's reading would also "greatly limit operation of the provisions in [General Rules of Interpretation] 3(b) and (c) which are designed to classify mixtures" (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2093).
The World Trade Organization opened registration for interested parties to attend the dispute panel proceedings in the EU's case against the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain. The panel's "substantive meeting" will run from Oct. 25-26. Applications to attend a live screening of the event must be received by Oct. 10.
The U.S. waived its right to reply to a Nebraska man's petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in his case appealing one question from the April 2018 customs broker license exam. Byungmin Chae previously appealed his test results to CBP, the Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, receiving credit at every step of the way for some questions he challenged but ultimately falling one question shy of a passing grade (Byungmin Chae v. Janet Yellen, U.S. Sup. Ct. # 23-200).
Consolidated plaintiffs in an antidumping case led by German exporter Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech asked the Court of International Trade to be severed from the joint AD matter given that its claims have been resolved by the court. In a Sept. 26 motion, Salzgitter said its case has "no overlap" with the one brought by lead plaintiff AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke and "it is likely that significant additional time will be required to reach a final judgment regarding the claims raised by Dillinger" (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 17-00158).