The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a challenge brought by Hutchison Quality Furniture over deemed liquidations for imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China. The Court of International Trade dismissed the case in 2015 due to a lack of jurisdiction (see 1506100011). The appeals court said in the July 6 decision (here) that CIT was correct to dismiss the case because the "true nature" of Hutchison's suit involves protestable actions by CBP. Although Hutchison did file a protest, it was submitted by mistake and did not raise the issues involved in the case, the court said. "The record demonstrates that Hutchison not only could have filed a protest, but that it in fact did so after Customs liquidated its entries," it said.

Federal agents seized some 60 tons of Chinese honey on June 29 from a suburban Chicago warehouse due to suspected evasion of antidumping duties, ICE said in a new release (here). "The smuggled honey was contained in 195 55-gallon drums that were falsely declared as originating from Vietnam to evade anti-dumping duties applicable to Chinese-origin honey," the agency said. The seized honey likely came from the same Vietnamese exporter responsible for another 60 tons of honey recently seized by ICE (see 1605060036). The honey was allegedly imported "by a shell importer of record in New York, New York," ICE said. "Agents located the honey by combing through transportation shipping records to piece together its whereabouts."

The Court of International Trade is considering changes to its rules that would 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 (here). The amendments to Rule 56.2 and the Standard Chambers procedures would “provide a default option” for the filing of a joint appendix after all briefs have been filed and after all comments have been filed on a remand redetermination, according to a note on the changes provided by the CIT rules advisory committee. An “alternative option preserves the requirement for a separate appendix to be filed each time a party files a brief or comments on a remand determination and does not require a joint appendix after all briefs have been filed,” the advisory committee note said. Comments are due July 27.

The Court of International Trade on June 28 ordered the Commerce Department to reconsider a 2014 decision not to impose antidumping duties on prestressed concrete steel rail tie wire (here). The court took issue with certain aspects of how Commerce calculated the zero percent AD duty rate for Siam Industrial Wire. Commerce had also requested the court allow it to reconsider other aspects of Siam Industrial Wire’s rate. As the decision by Commerce not to impose AD duties on steel rail tie wire from Thailand was based on the zero percent rate assigned to Siam Industrial Wire, the decision could eventually result in a reversal of Commerce’s determination and the imposition of AD duties.

The Court of International Trade recently ordered the International Trade Commission to reconsider its 2013 finding that dumped and illegally subsidized imports of hardwood plywood from China do not injure U.S. domestic industry, in a decision publicly released on June 24 (here). The court’s order could eventually result in the resumption of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on hardwood plywood from China and the eventual imposition of duties, after the ITC had brought the investigations to a close with no duties imposed with its final negative injury determination (see 13110524). The court ruled that the ITC failed to take certain factors into account when finding no material injury or threat of material injury. The commission’s remand results are due Sept. 8.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 20-26:

Volkswagen agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion to settle charges that it cheated federal and California emissions tests, also resolving violations related to the importation of vehicles that did not match certificates of conformity on file with the Environmental Protection Agency (see 1601050032), the Justice Department said June 28 (here). Of that total, $10 billion must be set aside for buybacks, lease terminations and modifications of affected vehicles, which include 2009 through 2015 car models with diesel engines, and another $4.7 billion will be designated for mitigating pollution and making investments to support zero-emission vehicle technology, it said. The Justice Department alleged Volkswagen equipped some of its cars with “defeat devices” that turn on full emissions controls only during EPA and California emissions testing, rendering them inoperative under normal driving conditions and “greatly increasing emissions.” VW did not list the devices on its EPA certificates of conformity, and they were in any case not legal for importation. The settlement also resolves unfair advertising charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission, as well as allegations of violations of California state laws.

The Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau approved a consent decree resolving its investigation of whether Icom America imported and sold marine radios in the U.S. that didn't include required public safety features. The rules require marine radios to “include the full range of features recommended by the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union to enhance emergency and safety-of-life communications from and between maritime vessels,” the bureau said in an order (here). Icom “admits that, by failing to include these features, its radios did not comply with the Commission’s rules,” the bureau said. Icom agreed to pay a $20,000 civil penalty and implement a compliance plan to prevent future violations, the bureau said. Icom didn't comment.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 13-19:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 6-12: