The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed on Nov. 5 a lower court ruling on the tariff classification of hole punches for paper scrapbooks. As the Court of International Trade had done in September 2012 (see 12100102), the appeals court held Wilton Industries’ “Stampin’ Up!” hole punches should be classified as “perforating punches” under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8203, rather than Wilton’s preferred classification as paper cutting machines under heading 8441. The former heading exactly describes Wilton’s hole punches, while the latter is reserved for paper manufacturing machinery, CAFC said.

The Court of International Trade sustained on Nov. 4 the final determination from the Commerce Department’s antidumping investigation on drill pipe from China (A-570-965). Downhole Pipe and its Chinese affiliate DP-Master challenged the way the agency valued a key input, and CIT had remanded in November on the issue 12112301. On remand, Commerce changed the way it valued the input, but ended up raising Downhole Pipe’s AD rate from 69.19% to 149.36%. Downhole Pipe unsurprisingly continued to contest the determination, but CIT found Commerce’s redetermination to be reasonable.

The U.S. government filed federal charges against a Belgian businessman in Chicago for trying to export aluminum tubes without the required U.S. Commerce Department license, ICE said in a press release. The charges allege that Nicholas Kaiga was trying to export the aluminum tubes, which are controlled for nuclear nonproliferation purposes, from an Illinois company, through Belgium, to a Malaysian company, said ICE.

A Missouri man pleaded guilty Oct. 29 to playing part in a conspiracy to import and sell counterfeit DVDs over the internet. Matthew Cerullo, of Springfield, imported more than 22,000 counterfeit DVDs from Hong Kong between February and Sept. 2013, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri. He sold the DVDs over the internet on eBay and Amazon through several businesses he owned, it said. Cerullo faces up to 40 years in prison without parole, the attorney’s office said.

The Court of International Trade finally sustained the Commerce Department’s 2008 final countervailing duty determination on new pneumatic off-the-road tires from China (C-570-913), bringing to an end after five years of litigation a case that at one point called into question Commerce’s ability to impose CV duties on China at all 11122210. CIT had in January accepted the constitutionality of the 2012 law authorizing CV duties on non-market economy, but remanded on more mundane issues (see 13010830). On remand, Commerce lowered TUTRIC’s CV duty rate from 6.85% to 3.93%. The court found Commerce adequately explained its reasoning, and accepted the results despite challenges from both domestic industry and Chinese exporters.

The Court of International Trade granted a reprieve to an importer facing penalties for tariff misclassification, but didn’t let the importer off the hook entirely. On Oct. 30, the court rejected a government request for penalties based on technicalities related to the calculation of the penalty amount. The government sought $324,687 against importer Lafidale for misclassification of handbags and wallets. CIT found that the importer was liable for penalties for gross negligence, but said the government’s muddled calculations prevented it from allowing the penalty to proceed. Although it denied the government’s motion, CIT said it would allow the government to correct its mistakes and refile.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is proposing to change its rules related to the filing of entries of appearance when a case is already in progress. The proposed amendments to Rule 47.3 would treat an entry of appearance filed after a case is assigned to a merits panel as a motion to appear that may be rejected by the panel (here). Motions are currently only required if an attorney’s entry of appearance is filed within 30 days of the scheduled argument.

A New Jersey woman could be facing up to 20 years in prison for export control violations related to allegedly sending military blueprints to India without a license, said the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office. Hannah Robert, who owned two New Jersey defense contracting businesses, was arraigned Oct. 28 on one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and one count of conspiracy to violate the act, the attorney’s office said.

The Court of International Trade remanded on Oct. 11 the final determination from the antidumping duty investigation on diamond sawblades from South Korea, in a move that could result in reinstatement of AD duties. The diamond sawblades order was revoked in 2011, after the Commerce Department implemented a World Trade Organization ruling by eliminating zeroing methodology from its calculations and AD rates for all reviewed companies fell to zero (see 11102822). Zero rates in an investigation mean an order can’t be issued. CIT’s remand raises the possibility that AD rates for South Korea diamond sawblade exporters could rise above zero, even without the use of zeroing methodology, which the court says would upset Commerce’s 2011 decision to revoke.

The Court of International Trade remanded the results of an anticircumvention inquiry on steel wire rod from Mexico that found Deacero’s product to be subject to antidumping duties. Commerce had found Deacero’s wire rod, with a diameter of 4.75mm, only constituted a “minor alteration” from merchandise otherwise subject to AD duties under the order. The scope of the order on carbon and steel wire rod from Mexico says it covers steel wire rod measuring between 5mm and 19mm in diameter. The court found that existence of 4.75mm wire was so widely known before the scope was written by domestic industry that the petitioners could have covered it under the order, but chose not to.