The Court of International Trade remanded the final results of the 2008-09 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from China (A-570-924) for the International Trade Administration to reconsider surrogate values for certain inputs and to correct a clerical error. Specifically, CIT granted ITA’s request for a voluntary remand to address respondents Fuwei Films (Shandong) Co., Ltd. and Shaxoing Xiangyu Green Packing Co., Ltd.’s arguments regarding the surrogate value for the labor input, and also to correct a clerical error in Green’s per-unit water and electricity costs. Additionally, CIT agreed with respondents’ arguments and remanded the ITA’s use of a simple average of two HTS numbers (3907.60.20 and 3907.60.10) to obtain Indian value data for the ITA’s surrogate value for PET chips, the primary input for PET film.

The Court of International Trade dismissed Rack Room Shoes’ request for rehearing of its constitutionality challenge of certain tariff provisions of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) on the grounds that the tariffs unconstitutionally discriminate by gender and age.

The Court of International Trade remanded part of the International Trade Administration’s final results of the 2008-09 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain orange juice from Brazil (A-351-840), in order for the ITA to reconsider its decision to include currency translation when calculating Brazilian plaintiff Fischer S.A. Comercio, Industria and Agricultura’s constructed value, and to reconsider its decision to apply zeroing methodology. However, CIT rejected Fischer’s other challenges of the ITA’s constructed value corporation.

The International Trade Commission’s decision to revoke the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from Russia was upheld by the Court of International Trade. Plaintiff US Magnesium LLC challenged the ITC’s negative injury determination in its 2010 sunset review of the AD order with respect to its decision not to conduct its injury determination based on the combined (“cumulated”) imports of magnesium from Russia and China, as well as its determination to revoke the AD order with respect to Russia. CIT said the ITC’s decision not to combine Russian and Chinese imports, as well as its decision to revoke the AD order, were both supported by substantial evidence, including, among other things, the decline of the Russian magnesium industry and the different uses for Russian and Chinese magnesium.

The Court of International Trade affirmed the International Trade Administration’s voluntary remand redetermination of the final results of the 2007-08 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam (A-552-802). The ITA had requested the voluntary remand to correct the methodology it used to determine the AD rate for 16 non-individually selected separate rate respondents, pursuant to earlier CIT rulings against this methodology with respect to the 2006-07 review of the same AD order.

A Singapore-based ship management company pleaded guilty and was sentenced May 30 in federal court in Mobile for deliberately falsifying records to conceal pollution discharges from the ship directly into the sea. Target Ship Management, the operator of the M/V Gaurav Prem, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to properly maintain an oil record book as required by federal and international law, as well as making material false statements during a U.S. Coast Guard inspection of the ship at the port of Mobile in September 2011. Payongyut Vongvichinakul, the ship’s chief engineer, and Pakpoom Hanprap, the ship’s second engineer, also pleaded guilty to violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and are scheduled to be sentenced on July 19, 2012. The company is to pay a $1 million criminal fine along with a $200,000 community service payment to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation. Target was also sentenced to three years probation. As a condition of the probation, ships operated or managed by Target that will or may call on the United States, must be subject to an environmental compliance plan supervised by outside auditors and the court. According to court filings, Target employees discharged oily bilge waste from the M/VGaurav Prem on multiple occasions as the vessel sailed from South Korea to Mobile. The discharges intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment, they said. The ship’s captain, Prastana Taohim, was convicted at a jury trial May 17, 2012 (See ITT's Online Archives 12052126).

The Court of International Trade remanded for further redetermination the final results of the International Trade Administration’s 2007-08 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816). In this consolidated action, four plaintiffs, Korean exporters Union Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Dongbu Steel Co., Ltd., and Hyundai HYSCO, as well as U.S. Steel, a member of the U.S. domestic industry, challenged the ITA’s final results. Additionally, the ITA requested a voluntary remand with respect to four claims.

Paul Cosgrove, the former head of worldwide sales at Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.-based valve company Control Components Inc. pleaded guilty May 29 to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), said the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The plea was in U.S. District Court, Santa Ana, Calif., to a one-count superseding information charging him with making a corrupt payment to a foreign government official in China in violation of the FCPA. According to court documents, CCI designed and manufactured service control valves for use in the nuclear, oil and gas, and power generation industries worldwide. Cosgrove, 65, faces up to 15 months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 27, 2012.

Ericsson de Panama S.A. of Panama City, Panama, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.753 million to settle 262 violations of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), said the Bureau of Industry and Security. According to BIS, Ericsson de Panama knowingly implemented a scheme between 2004 and 2007 to route items from Cuba through Panama, repackaged the items to conceal their Cuban markings, forwarded the items to the U.S. for repair and replacement and then returned the items to Cuba. Classified under Export Control Classification Numbers 5A002, 4A994, 5A991, 5B991 or designated EAR99, the items’ distribution to Cuba were controlled for national security, antiterrorism, encryption, and sanctions reasons.

A National Guard special forces staff sergeant and two Chinese nationals were arrested and charged for their part in a multi-national firearms trafficking ring, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.