The Container Store on Dec. 10 filed suit at the Court of International Trade in an attempt to get CBP to follow a 2011 court ruling that classified parts for its elfa hanging modular storage system as furniture. According to the complaint, CBP headquarters instructed port officials to hold off on reliquidation of entries covered under the court ruling. The agency also refused to concede defeat in other lawsuits covering the same product, because it apparently still believes the elfa top tracks and hanging standards should be classified as metal mountings despite CIT’s decision, the complaint said.

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 6 refused to dismiss a challenge to high antidumping duty rates imposed on merchandise from a Chinese exporter of steel nails. In the 2010-11 administrative review of steel nails from China, the Commerce Department had assigned Suntec Industries the 118.04% “China-wide” rate, because the company didn’t file paperwork to show it was independent from state control. But Suntec argued it never got the chance because the petitioners that requested the review never served the company with notice. As a result, Suntec said it didn’t learn of the review until days before it was completed in March 2013.

A Florida antiques dealer pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to obstruction of justice related to the submission of false invoices to avoid a CBP penalty proceeding for the illegal importation of Chinese art. Francis Lorin and his company Lorin & Son, which does business as Asiantiques, admitted to illegally importing ancient Chinese artifacts without the required permission, then submitting fraudulent invoices to CBP during the ensuing investigation.

The Court of International Trade denied an importer’s challenge to CBP’s tariff classification of its valve motors for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Belimo Automation said a microchip added to the electric motors that allows for some independent action means the product is classifiable as a regulating and controlling instrument. But the court affirmed CBP’s finding that the product is still an electric motor because it doesn’t measure the variable it’s regulating.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 6 affirmed a lower court ruling that found parts Samsung used in its plasma screen televisions rendered the merchandise ineligible for NAFTA duty-free treatment. The Court of International Trade had in November 2012 found the plasma display panel modules, included in plasma TVs Samsung imported from Mexico, to be “flat panel screen assemblies” (see 12112332). Flat panel screen assemblies can’t become NAFTA-eligible through any tariff shift rule. Because the plasma display panel modules were made in South Korea, CIT’s decision rendered them ineligible for NAFTA duty-free treatment. CAFC said it adopted the reasoning of CIT “in all respects,” and affirmed.

The State Department Directorate of Defense Controls posted on Dec. 5 a snapshot of major U.S. export enforcement, economic espionage, trade secret and embargo-related criminal cases handled by the Justice Department since January 2008. The document was last updated on Nov. 20. The cases are the result of investigations by the Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and other law enforcement agencies. The snapshot is not exhaustive, said Justice.

A New York antiques dealer was sentenced to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory in violation of wildlife trafficking laws, announced the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on Dec. 5. Qiang Wang, aka Jeffery Wang, pleaded guilty in August to charges that he conspired with others to export libation cups carved from rhinoceros horns to Hong Kong and China, without declaring them to CBP or the Fish and Wildlife Service (see 13080914).

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 4 remanded the final results of the 2009-10 antidumping duty administrative review on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea (A-580-809) for the Commerce Department to reconsider the way it priced inputs used by respondent SeAH in steel production.

A New York drug importer has filed suit against the Food and Drug Administration in a bid to secure release of a shipment of raw pharmaceutical ingredients that was refused by the agency. H&M USA filed a complaint Nov. 19 at the Eastern New York U.S. District Court, arguing FDA cited a non-existent policy on labeling of bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to refuse entry. The company wants the district court to order the shipment’s release, and block a CBP redelivery order.

Oil services company Weatherford International will pay $252 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act export control provisions, said the Justice Department Nov. 26. The company will resolve charges that it didn’t have adequate internal controls, which resulted in bribery and corruption by its subsidiaries. The Office of Foreign Assets Controls announced its settlement with the company on Nov. 26 (see 13112631).