An executive of Korea's Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. (HLDS) agreed to plead guilty and serve time in a U.S. prison for participating in a series of conspiracies to rig bids for the sale of optical disk drives, the Department of Justice said April 30.

A general challenge of the International Trade Administration’s alleged failure to require explanations from petitioners for review requests and withdrawals of review requests in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings was dismissed by the Court of International Trade because of lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Court of International Trade found that there is no regulation, statute, or practice establishing a time limit for interested party submissions that rebut information that the International Trade Administration places on the record, and consequently remanded the ITA's decision to reject as untimely plaintiffs’ rebuttal of data that the ITA had placed on the record in a new shipper review of honey from China (A-570-863).

Seven stolen and looted, and illegally imported objects of Italian cultural heritage will soon be on their way back to Italy, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The U.S. and Italy negotiated an agreement in 2001 prohibiting the import of certain Italian archaeological material into the U.S. without proper export documents.

The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Ping Cheng and Prime Technology Corporation, both of New York State, have agreed to $125,000 fines and two-year denial of export privileges for each to settle allegations that they conspired to violate the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The two-year denial period, as well as $75,000 in fines for each, will be suspended as long as neither commits additional export control violations during the two year period. According to BIS, the violations involve attempts to export carbon fiber to China for use by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) without the required U.S. government authorizations.

The Court of International Trade affirmed, in part, the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination in the 2006-07 antidumping administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816). With respect to plaintiff-intervenor Nucor’s challenge of the ITA’s decision not to treat Korean exporters Union Steel and POSCO Group as a single entity, the only contested issue, CIT found that the ITA’s explanation of its decision in the remand redetermination was supported by record evidence and in accordance with law, and affirmed.

The Court of International Trade affirmed a voluntary remand by the International Trade Administration on the issue of fraud by plaintiff Tianjin Magnesium International, a respondent in the 2006-07 administrative review of an antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from China (A-570-832). CIT also affirmed the ITA’s decision to apply Adverse Facts Available (AFA) in determining Tianjin’s rate as a result of that fraud.

The Court of International Trade reconsidered its previous affirmance of the International Trade Administration’s use of zeroing methodology in the final results of the 2006-07 antidumping administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816), and ordered the ITA to submit a second remand redetermination to address the issue of zeroing.

The U.S. Justice Department said it intervened in a lawsuit against Japanese company, Toyo Ink Manufacturing Co. Ltd., that is accused of misrepresenting the country of origin on documents presented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid paying antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of the colorant carbazole violet pigment number 23 (CVP-23).

In a challenge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) classification of “boots [that] can be pulled on with the hands, and that…extend above the ankle” as "slip-on footwear," brought by plaintiff Deckers Outdoor Corp., the Court of International Trade ruled in favor of CBP. CBP originally classified the entries under HTS No. 6404.19.35, which includes “[non-sports] footwear [with outer soles of rubber or plastics] of the slip-on type, that is held to the foot without the use of laces or buckles or other fasteners,” dutiable at 37.5% ad valorem.