Cargo vans exported to Canada and retrofitted as motorhomes before being imported into the U.S. do not qualify for duty-free treatment as goods returned after alteration or repair, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued Oct. 18 (here). The transformation from a cargo van into a motorhome changed the character of the finished product so much that the importer, Pleasure-Way Industries, can no longer claim that it is the same article that it exported for tariff classification purposes, CIT said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 10-16:

The Department of Justice recently outlined its policies on remediation of penalties for willful export controls and sanctions violations when a company submits a voluntary self-disclosure (VSD). A guidance document (here) issued in early October sets forth the criteria DOJ’s National Security Division “uses in exercising its prosecutorial discretion in this area,” as well as “the possible benefits that could be afforded to an organization that makes a voluntary self-disclosure.” The guidance document directs companies to continue to submit VSDs to the relevant agency -- the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls or the Office of Foreign Assets Control, depending on the violation -- and if the violation was willful, to also submit the VSD to the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the National Security Division.

The Court of International Trade recently blocked the Commerce Department and CBP from collecting antidumping and countervailing duty cash deposits on entries suspended by CBP before Commerce began a scope ruling on the merchandise. After it found Sunpreme’s hybrid solar cells were subject to AD/CV duties in August (see 1608030041), Commerce directed CBP to collect cash deposits on all unliquidated entries, even those that CIT had previously decided CBP had improperly suspended before the scope proceeding (see 1601190080). In a decision publicly released on Oct. 12 (here), the court found Commerce likely had no authority to do so, issuing an injunction stopping collection of cash deposits until it reaches a final decision in the case.

Federal agents arrested a U.S. citizen and two Russian nationals for charges of exporting controlled microelectronics from the U.S. to end users in Russia, without a license, the Department of Justice said in an Oct. 6 press release (here). Alexey Barysheff of Brooklyn, New York, and Dmitrii Karpenko and Alexey Krutilin of Russia, were arrested, and federal agents executed search warrants at two Brooklyn locations alleged to be the “front” companies of “BKLN Spectra” and “UIP Techno” used for illicit shipments. Microelectronics shipped to Russia included digital-to-analog converters and integrated circuits, often used in radar and surveillance systems, missile guidance systems and satellites, DOJ said. The defendants and their co-conspirators provided the U.S. government with false end user information in connection with the purchase of the items, hid that they were exporters, and falsely classified the exported goods on records submitted to the Commerce Department, DOJ said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 3-9:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 26 - Oct. 2:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 19-25:

The Court of International Trade on Sept. 21 approved changes to its rules governing interrogatories and a new form for filing physical samples as evidence, it said (here). Other changes would also encourage parties to antidumping and countervailing duty cases to file a single joint appendix containing the parts of the administrative records cited by all parties. The amendments take effect Oct. 3.

Siemens agreed to pay a $175,000 fine for not disclosing two corporate felony convictions on a variety of Federal Communications Commission wireless license applications. The convictions stem from Siemens in 2008 pleading guilty to violating the accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through bribery of foreign government officials and in 2007 pleading guilty to a federal charge of obstruction of justice in a civil matter, the FCC Enforcement Bureau said in its Sept. 22 order (here). The failure to disclose "is particularly troubling because the underlying acts included misdeeds involving foreign telecommunications regulators," the bureau said, saying the consent decree includes that the two Siemens subsidiaries involved -- Siemens Corp. and Siemens Medical Solutions -- corrected the wireless application submissions on their own initiative and were fully cooperative with a bureau investigation afterward. Under the consent decree, the two also will develop and implement a compliance plan aimed at ensuring accurate future filing of wireless license applications, including a compliance manual and compliance training. Siemens didn't comment.