The Department of Justice wants an entry of plywood imported from China scratched from a customs challenge in the Court of International Trade by BRAL Corporation, since the importer failed to file a protest against the entry's liquidation (BRAL Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00154). In a May 3 memo in support of a partial motion to dismiss, DOJ said the entry, one of 12 in dispute in the case, was reliquidated twice by CBP as the agency attempted to sort out the antidumping and countervailing duties applicable to the plywood imports. Since BRAL did not protest the second reliquidation, yet challenges it in court anyway, the entry should be dismissed from the case for lack of jurisdiction, DOJ said.

A nail importer and the Justice Department have agreed that judgment should be awarded in favor of the importer and the Section 232 tariffs on "derivatives" paid by the importer should be refunded, according to a joint status report filed April 30 (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 20-00037). Oman Fasteners and DOJ say the Court of International Trade's recent decision in a case involving PrimeSource is "parallel and substantially similar" to the main issue in Oman Fasteners' lawsuit (see 2104050049). Oman Fasteners and DOJ urged the court to rule in favor of the exporter on the question of the timeliness of the tariff expansion but to dismiss Oman Fasteners' remaining claims. Oman Fasteners also moved that the court “order other appropriate relief, including terminating Plaintffs' obligations to post continuous bonds to cover duties enacted pursuant to” the president's decision to expand the tariffs. Oman Fasteners also filed an unopposed motion for entry of final judgment in the case.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Court of International Trade granted the Justice Department's request for a voluntary remand in the antidumping duty investigation on polyethylene terephthalate sheet from Oman, in an April 30 order. OCTAL says it was not given the chance to comment during the investigation on a Commerce determination that the exporter was affiliated with one of its customers. OCTAL also said the trade court should give Commerce greater than 90 days for the remand in order to reopen the record in the investigation to account for new information. DOJ agreed that the case should be remanded, but not to an extension of the 90-day deadline to reopen the record. CIT's order says the remand must be filed within 90 days.

Aluminum extrusion importer Hialeah Aluminum Supply on April 29 filed a Court of International Trade complaint challenging an Enforce and Protect Act final affirmative determination. Hialeah argues that CBP's process in the investigation violated its Fifth Amendment due process rights and violated the agency's own regulations (Hialeah Aluminum Supply, Inc. v. United States, #21-00207).

The Court of International Trade on April 29 sustained the Commerce Department's second remand results in a countervailing duty administrative review on corrosion-resistant steel products from India. Upholding the agency's application of adverse facts available to Indian steel producer Uttam Galva Steels in Commerce's 2016 review, Judge Leo Gordon found that Commerce adequately explained its decision to apply full AFA to Uttam Galva and not to the other mandatory respondent in the case, JSW, because Uttam Galva failed to provide information about its affiliation with Lloyds Steel Industry Ltd. (LSIL).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Following a court-ordered remand to address due process concerns in an Enforce and Protect Act case, CBP has failed again to provide Royal Brush Manufacturing “notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard,” the importer argued in an April 26 response to CBP's remand redetermination. Despite some changes to comply with the Court of International Trade decision that found fault with CBP's finding that Royal Brush evaded antidumping duties on cased pencils from China by way of transshipment through the Philippines, Royal Brush continued to take issue with CBP's public summaries of key case information and the agency's failure to properly notify the company when new factual information surfaced via a verification report.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

3D-printed guns can now be removed from the State Department-regulated U.S. Munitions List following an April 27 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Penned by judges Jay Bybee and Ryan Nelson, the decision lifts an injunction on regulations issued by President Donald Trump in 2018 to transfer “ghost gun” blueprints from the USML to the less-restrictive Commerce Control List.