The Court of International Trade has ruled in National Presto Industries Inc., v. U.S., that an adult diaper making machine is properly classified under heading 8441 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which specifically covers machines used for making up paper pulp articles, and not under the basket provision of heading 8479.

The Justice Department announced that an executive of a Taiwan manufacturer of aftermarket auto lights was recently arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and indicted on July 19, 2011 for participating in a global conspiracy to fix the prices of aftermarket auto lights.

The Justice Department has announced that the owner of CLM Financing and Investments, a company in Miami that provided advice to exporters, was sentenced on July 18, 2011 to 63 months in prison for his role in assisting exporters obtain fraudulent loans that were insured by the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Chinese producer/exporter Qingdao Taifa Group Co., Ltd. challenged the third remand results following the December 2005-November 2006 AD administrative review of hand trucks and certain parts thereof from China, in which the International Trade Administration assigned the uncooperative firm a total adverse facts available rate of 383.60%, the country-wide rate reflecting a presumption of government control. In the third remand results, the ITA reversed itself and assigned Qingdao Taifa a separately calculated rate of 145.90%, corroborated by a portion of the rates the agency calculated and verified for the same company in the original investigation, and the Court of International Trade upheld this revised result. (Slip Op. 11-83, dated 07/12/11)

Arcelormittal Stainless Belgium N.V objected to the International Trade Administration’s ruling on the scope of the AD and CVD orders on stainless steel plate in coils from Belgium and whether it includes steel in coils with a nominal thickness of 4.75 millimeters but an actual thickness less than 4.75 mm. The ITA’s interpretation of the scope in this regard has varied at times, but now, the Court of International Trade has upheld the agency’s redetermination on remand that the 4.75 mm thickness measure applies to nominal dimensions allowing for agreed-upon tolerances. As a result of the ruling, stainless steel in coils with nominal thickness of 4.75 mm, but actual thickness less than 4.75 mm, now falls within the scope of the orders. (Slip Op. 11-82, dated 07/12/11)

On July 13, 2011, the Justice Department announced that it had entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Armor Holdings Inc., which will pay a $10.29 million penalty to resolve violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving an Armor subsidiary's commissions to a third-party sales agent which were knowingly passed on to a United Nations procurement official.

On July 13, 2011, the Justice Department announced that six defendants have been charged in a superseding indictment for their alleged roles in a foreign bribery, wire fraud, and money laundering scheme involving illegal payments made to Haitian officials of a state-owned telecommunications company, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The Court of International Trade has ruled in The Pomeroy Collection, Ltd., v. U.S., that two glass components from Mexico are parts of articles (lamps) which are classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9405 because the lamps could not function without the glass components and because the glass components are dedicated solely for use with the lamps.

The District Court for the District of Colombia has ruled that a case against Honeywell International Inc. regarding false claims, fraud, and unjust enrichment in the sale of Zylon body armor shields - to be incorporated into Z Shield bullet proof vests - may proceed, denying Honeywell's motion to dismiss. The U.S. is alleging, among other things, that Honeywell failed to reveal data indicating problems with the protective qualities of the shields (e.g. degradation in tensile strength when exposed to light, etc.), and instead maintained that none of its data should cause Armor Holdings, Inc. to reconsider marketing or selling the Z Shield vests. Civil Action No. 08-961 (dated 07/08/11).

Following the May 1993 - April 1994 AD administrative review period for ball bearings from Japan, the International Trade Administration issued liquidation instructions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection that included customer-specific liquidation rates for merchandise produced by Nankai Seiko Co. Importer Shinyei Corporation of America at first provided entry documents that did not list a U.S. end customer in a way readily decipherable by Customs, and Customs refused to consider invoices Shinyei subsequently gave that were dated after the entry date. Customs then did not liquidate the merchandise according to the ITA’s instructions, but at a higher rate. The Court of International Trade ruled that CBP erred in failing to automatically apply the customer-specific AD duty rate in the ITA’s liquidation instructions, and ordered CBP to refund the excess deposits to the company with interest. (Slip Op. 11-69, dated 06/15/11)