The fourth "Fish Week" negotiations on fisheries subsidies opened at the World Trade Organization July 10 with the chair, Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, fielding members' views on what parts from various proposals submitted by different countries would form the basis of the text-based talks in the fall, according to the WTO. Members are aiming to reach an agreement at the 13th Ministerial Conference set for February. The WTO will hold a July 19 meeting to discuss the "technical work related to the operation of the future Committee on Fisheries Subsidies," which will be established when the original fisheries deal, struck at MC12, comes into force. WTO Deputy Director-General Angela Ellard said "now is the right time to deepen the discussions and identify elements and approaches for the starting point of text-based negotiations in the fall."
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The False Claims Act's scienter element, which says a person must have "knowingly" made false statements, refers to a defendant's knowledge and subjective beliefs and not to what an objectively reasonable person may have known or believed, the U.S. said in an amicus brief invited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Citing recent Supreme Court precedent from U.S. ex rel. Schute v. SuperValu, the U.S. said the appeals court should reject importer Sigma Corp.'s arguments to the contrary in a case on whether the company violated the False Claims Act by filing false customs forms to evade antidumping duties (Island Industries v. Sigma Corp., 9th Cir. # 22-55063).
The U.S. and importer Pacific World reached a settlement regarding the classification of artificial nails, Michael Roll, counsel for the importer, confirmed to Trade Law Daily. The settlement led to the dismissal of 15 cases at the Court of International Trade that were suspended pending resolution of a test case, also brought by Pacific World, which was resolved in 2016.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a July 11 opinion affirmed the Court of International Trade's opinion upholding the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against countervailing duty respondent Jangho Group in a case on the 2013 review of the CVD order on aluminum extrusions from China. The two-page order from Judges Kimberly Moore, Alan Lourie and Tiffany Cunningham was issued without an explanation of the ruling.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 11 ordered U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman to "engage in informal mediation" with at least one of her appeals court colleagues -- Judges Kimberly Moore, Sharon Prost or Richard Taranto -- regarding the trio's investigation on Newman's fitness to continue serving on the Federal Circuit. The mediation shall occur before Judge Thomas Griffith, who sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2005 to 2020 (Pauline Newman v. Kimberly A. Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
The European Commission on July 7 opened a consultation on the use of its enforcement regulation in a World Trade Organization dispute on Indonesia's export restrictions on nickel. The move follows Indonesia's appeal of a WTO dispute panel ruling favorable to the EU. Due to the lack of a functioning Appellate Body, all appeals at the WTO are in limbo.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate in a case on the 2014-15 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on solar cells from China. In the opinion, the Federal Circuit said that a company unable to prove it has entries for the purposes of being granted a separate AD rate should not automatically be rescinded from the review (see 2305190060). While the court found unconvincing the government's claim that it is not required to rescind a review for a company with no entries, the judges did rule that exporter Ningbo Qixin did not establish that it had no shipments, even though the agency rejected a separate rate for the company since it couldn't verify any entries (Canadian Solar International v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 20-2162).
Judge Todd Hughes at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit during July 10 oral argument expressed doubt over antidumping duty petitioner Wheatland Tube's claim that the Commerce Department can make a cost-based particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test where normal value is based on constructed value. The judge referenced the Federal Circuit's past ruling in Hyundai Steel v. U.S., which found that cost-based PMS adjustments cannot be made to the sales-below-cost test (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-1175).