The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Antidumping duty petitioner Association of American School Paper Supplies filed for and was granted dismissal of its lawsuit challenging a review of the AD order on lined paper products from India. The petitioner filed the suit to contest the Commerce Department's use of Afghanistan as a comparison market for India, arguing that the prices in Afghanistan were not representative and shouldn't have been the basis for normal value (see 2306060041). No reason was given for the case's dismissal, but all parties that had appeared in the action agreed to it (Association of American School Paper Suppliers v. United States, CIT # 23-00102).
The U.S. filed a motion to remand an Enforce and Protect Act case in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's ruling in Royal Brush Manufacturing v. United States, in which the appellate court said CBP violated an EAPA party's due process rights by not granting them access to business confidential information. Filing the Sept. 14 motion in a Court of International Trade case filed by importer Newtrend USA Co., the government claimed that a limited remand is needed because the opinion concerns "the treatment of confidential information" (Newtrend USA Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00347).
Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade asked the Commerce Department to conduct a review of the country's status as a non-market economy, telling the agency that the nation's "achievements in market opening and integration into the regional and global economy" stand as grounds for review. Seeking to build on the back of the 2013 comprehensive partnership agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam, the ministry asked for a changed circumstances review of its NME status.
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 14 opinion upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco.
President Joe Biden's two nominees for the Court of International Trade advanced to a vote before the full Senate following Sept. 14 votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee (see 2309120040). The nominees, Lisa Wang, assistant secretary of commerce for enforcement and compliance, and Joseph Laroski, partner at Schagrin Associates, passed the committee on votes of 12-9 and 18-3, respectively. All "Nay" votes for both candidates were cast by Republicans.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Boutique law firm Fick & Marx filed suit against Joseph Baptiste, a defendant in a previous Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case, for breach of contract since he has allegedly failed to pay the firm for services rendered on his behalf in the FCPA case. Taking to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the firm said that Baptiste has "repeatedly promised to pay" his tab, which now amounts to over $160,000, but has failed to do so even over a year later (Fick & Marx v. Joseph Baptiste, D. Mass. # 23-12097).
Groups of exporters and importers filed complaints in 19 separate cases this week challenging the Commerce Department's anti-circumvention inquiry concerning the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood products from China covering exports from Vietnam.
The Commerce Department properly used the Turkish lira to value exporter Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi's home-market sales as part of the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on cold-rolled steel flat products from Turkey, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Sept. 14 opinion. Judge M. Miller Baker said Commerce's use of the lira didn't violate its past practice or the established reasons underlying this practice.