Jacob Kopnick

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of June 10-16, 17-23 and 24-30:

The U.S. on July 1 urged the Court of International Trade to dismiss customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage's suit contesting CBP's suspension of the company from participation in the Entry Type 86 pilot and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. The government said Seko's claims aren't ripe for judicial review, are moot and are premature (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 overturned a hallmark of administrative law that had stood for four decades: the principle, established in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, of deferring to federal agencies' interpretation of ambiguous statutes.

The EU applauded a recent move by the U.S. to lift restrictions on certain plant imports from 21 member states after finding the regions were free from two pests (see 2406110052), and it's asking the U.S. to continue removing the restrictions for other EU countries. The European Commission said it helped “negotiate the removal” of the U.S. import restrictions, which "underscores the cooperative efforts between the EU and US to ensure the safety and quality of traded agricultural products." But it noted that Finland, Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Italy are still under restrictions. "The Commission continues to work with the US on the EU’s remaining demand," it said.

The Drug Enforcement Administration told CBP that it believes importer UniChem's entry of "7-keto dehydroepiandrosterone is a Schedule III anabolic steroid and its importation violates DEA regulations." As a result, DEA requested that CBP seize the entry on DEA's behalf, the U.S. told the Court of International Trade in a June 25 status report (UniChem Enterprises v. U.S., CIT # 24-00033).

International Trade Commission member Rhonda Schmidtlein became chairman of the ITC by operation of law, succeeding outgoing chair David Johnason, whose term expired on June 16, the commission announced. She was nominated to the ITC by President Barack Obama in 2013 and previously served as chairman from 2017 to 2018. Prior to joining the commission, Schmidtlein served as a consultant to the World Bank for two years and worked as the founding director of the Office of International Affairs created to implement the obligations of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The Court of International Trade dismissed importer Greentech Energy Solutions' challenge to antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar cells to its Vietnamese solar cell entries for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit on June 14 denied Albion Engineering Co.'s expedited motion to stay an injunction pending the appeal of Newborn Bros. Co.'s suit against Albion for unfair competition (Newborn Bros. Co. v. United States, 3rd Cir. # 24-1548).

Washington state importer Tip the Scale, doing businesses as L & D Kitchen and Bath, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on June 14 for "making false declarations" on the "species and harvest location" of timber it used in its wooden cabinets and vanities, DOJ announced.

CBP said in a customs ruling earlier this month that luxury goods sold between a related European exporter and U.S. importer weren't subject to restrictions on their use that barred the use of the transaction method. In addition, CBP excluded service fees between the companies from the actual price of the goods since the fees didn't pertain to the goods' importation, and the agency found that the relationship between the parties didn't preclude the use of the transaction value method to appraise the value of the goods.