Exporter Pirelli Tyre Co. will appeal a Court of International Trade decision finding that Pirelli failed to rebut the presumption of Chinese government control in the 2017-18 review of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China. According to the notice of appeal, the exporter will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the opinion, the trade court said there isn't a different standard of proof for rebutting the presumption of government control in antidumping proceedings based on the degree of the foreign state's ownership stake in a respondent (see 2306120055) (Pirelli Tyre Co. v. United States, CIT # 20-00115).
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 4 notice granted importer Viking Drill & Tool's bid to dismiss its customs suit concerning its high-speed drill rods. The importer claimed in its summons that CBP illegally denied its protest, which said the rods of Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 7228.10.0030 were granted Section 232 steel and aluminum duty exclusions but were still assessed the duties (Viking Drill & Tool v. United States, CIT # 22-00058).
The Commerce Department improperly found that lemon juice exporter Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) was not affiliated with its primary fresh lemon supplier, leading to a de minimis rate for LDC, petitioner Ventura Coastal argued in its Aug. 3 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. The petitioner said Commerce discussed only LDC's potential reliance on the supplier, whose name was redacted in the brief, but failed to consider the supplier's reliance on LDC, misapplying the legal standard (Ventura Coastal v. U.S., CIT # 23-00009).
The Commerce Department legally selected Malaysian import data to value backsheet and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) in an antidumping duty review on solar cells from China because that data best corresponds to the inputs used by exporter Risen Energy Co., the U.S. argued in an Aug. 3 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Risen Energy Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-11550).
A three-judge committee at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that Judge Pauline Newman committed a "serious form of misconduct" by thwarting the investigation into her fitness to continue serving at the court. Releasing its findings publicly Aug. 4, the committee recommended the court's Judicial Council bar Newman from sitting on any new cases for a one-year period "until she complies with the Committee's outstanding orders such that the inquiry into whether she suffers from a disability may be completed."
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 3 order assigned a case challenging the results of the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on preserved mushrooms from the Netherlands to Judge M. Miller Baker. Petitioner Giorgio Foods filed the suit in June claiming that Commerce illegally picked Germany as the third-country comparison market since none of the reasons the agency gave for picking the nation were supported by substantial evidence (see 2307240018). The result of the investigation was a de minimis rate for respondent Prochamp and the company's exclusion from the AD order (Giorgio Foods v. U.S., CIT # 23-00133).
Importer Eteng Technologies Aug. 2 moved to dismiss its customs suit at the Court of International Trade related to its shipments of backpacking tents. The company challenged CBP's classification of the tents under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 6302.22.90, dutiable at 8.8%, claiming that they should be classified under subheading 6306.22.10, free of duty. John Peterson, counsel for Eteng, said in an email that he realized the duties were not paid before the case was filed, which would have led the suit being tossed for lack of jurisdiction (Eteng Technologies v. United States, CIT # 22-00167).
The Commerce Department did not satisfy its statutory obligations to tell antidumping duty respondents their submissions were deficient ahead of granting constructed export price adjustments, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 3 opinion. Remanding the 2019-20 review of the AD order on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea, Judge Timothy Reif said the agency should provide the mandatory respondents with notice of their deficiencies and give them a chance to explain them.
The Court of International Trade improperly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a $5.7 million customs penalty suit against importer Katana Racing, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an Aug. 3 opinion. While the trade court said Katana properly revoked a statute of limitations waiver making the U.S. government's suit untimely, Judges Sharon Prost, Alvin Schall and Todd Hughes said the statute of limitations "is not a jurisdictional time limit." Instead, it provides an "affirmative defense" that can be waived.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit officially issued its order vacating and remanding the Court of International Trade's opinion upholding CBP's evasion finding for importer Royal Brush Manufacturing. The Aug. 1 order came a few days after the court's consequential opinion, which said CBP violated Royal Brush's due process rights by not giving it access to confidential information in the Enforce and Protect Act investigation into the company (see 2307270038). The order remands the antidumping and countervailing duty evasion case so the agency can make the whole record available to the importer (Royal Brush Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-1226).