In the August 2006 - July 2007 antidumping duty administrative review of polyethylene retail carrier bags from Thailand, the International Trade Administration applied a “total adverse facts available” rate of 122.88% to two uncooperative Thai producers, King Pac Industrial Co., Ltd. and Master Packaging Co, Ltd. The U.S. importer, KYD, Inc., having attempted to cooperate with the review, challenged the high rate determination as applied to its imports. The Court of International Trade cited the large difference between the adverse rate and the actual calculated rates for the 2006-07 review, and remanded the matter to the ITA to find a lower adverse rate for the importer, reasoning that an AFA rate must be "a reasonably accurate estimate of the respondent’s actual rate, albeit with some built-in increase intended as a deterrent to noncompliance.” (Slip Op. 11-49, dated 04/28/11)

The Court of International Trade has ruled in Graphite Sales v. U.S., that while electric heating resistors are prima facie classifiable under both Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings 8516 as "electric heating resistors" and 9613 as "other electrical lighters", the resistors are properly classifiable under duty-free HTS 8516.80.80, as it provides a more specific description.

The Justice Department has announced that seafood wholesalers Karen Blyth and David Phelps were sentenced to 33 months and 24 months in prison, respectively, for violating the Lacey Act, etc. A third defendant charged in the case, John Popa had previously pleaded guilty to similar offenses, and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26, 2011.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed the Court of International Trade's decision in Dell Products LP, v. U.S., that for tariff purposes, goods put up in sets for retail sale refers to goods that are offered to customers as a set for purchase rather than to a collection of goods that are assembled into a set after the customer has purchased them, in which case, the goods would be classified separately.

The Justice Department has announced that on April 29, 2011, Alberto Arellano-Felix, an alleged leader of the multi-national drug trafficking Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO), was extradited by the government of Mexico to the U.S. to face charges for conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and marijuana. The indictment alleges that the AFO leadership negotiated directly with Colombian cocaine trafficking organizations for the purchase of multi-ton shipments of cocaine, received those shipments in Mexico by sea and by air, and then arranged for the smuggling of the cocaine into the U.S. and its further distribution throughout the U.S. The proceeds of the AFO’s drug trafficking, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, were allegedly smuggled back into Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington announced on February 14, 2011, that James Armstrong, a retired dentist, and his son, Gregory Armstrong, were sentenced for selling and dispensing counterfeit drugs with the intent to mislead or defraud. According to the records filed in the case, on April 9, 2010, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Los Angeles intercepted a package that had been sent from China addressed to a mail box in Washington, containing 2,544 pills of counterfeit erectile dysfunction drug Viagra® and 260 pills of Cialis®. Over the course of a year, 22 packages arrived at the box from China and India. James Armstrong was sentenced to a $30,000 fine and one year of supervised release. His son was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, two years of supervised release and a $5,000 fine.

On February 9, 2011, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri announced that Mark Hughes was sentenced to 46 months of imprisonment on multiple charges involving the illegal importation and sale of counterfeit and misbranded Viagra® and Cialis®, and to pay restitution. According the facts filed with the court, for about three years prior to December 2009, Hughes began ordering large quantities of prescription and pharmaceutical drugs from sources in India and China without prescriptions for resale. Hughes is not licensed or authorized to sell and distribute prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals.

The Justice Department has announced that Flavio Ricotti, a former executive of California-based valve company, Control Components Inc. (CCI), has pleaded guilty for his participation in a conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of a foreign state-owned oil company as well as officers and employees of foreign and domestic private companies, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Travel Act.

The Department of Justice reports that Dirk Lee Robinson was sentenced to 33 months in prison for selling a variety of counterfeit goods, including goods bearing the marks of clothing and shoe companies such as Nike, Chanel, Coach, Ed Hardy, LaCoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Timberland and True Religion. Robinson sold the goods and merchandise though a retail sales business called “Jeans and Things” at his home in St. Louis, which he owned and operated. Robinson was also ordered to forfeit almost $30,000 in cash and a variety of personal property used in connection with the offense.

The International Trade Administration originally proposed a China-wide “adverse facts” antidumping duty rate of 45.25% for imports of heavy forged hand tools from producer/exporter Shandong Machinery Import & Export Company, for the review period of February 2005 through January 2006, arguing that the rate must be higher than the prior rate of 34.56% in order to ensure cooperation. In the first remand, the Court of International Trade found the agency had failed to corroborate the 45.25% rate and ordered the agency to use a “different rate.” However, in the second remand, the court ruled out as “punitive” a revised rate of 109.16%, which was based on a single sale in the preceding review. The CIT then instructed the agency to revert to the 45.25% rate, but with corroboration, and the court has now accepted this result. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 08/18/10 news, 10081817, for BP summary of the CIT’s second remand.) (Slip Op. 11-47, dated 04/26/11)