The Court of International Trade remanded the International Trade Administration’s decision to use India as the surrogate country to value respondents’ inputs in the 2009-10 administrative review of polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet and strip from China (A-570-924). The ITA used World Bank data from 2008 to find India an economically comparable country eligible for selection, when domestic parties had placed 2009 World Bank data on the record. The 2009 data coincided with part of the period of review, and was relied upon by the ITA in another review that did not find India to be economically comparable to China. Importantly, the ITA had already formulated its list of comparable candidate countries by the time the 2009 data was placed on the record, but had not made its final surrogate country selection. The court ordered the ITA to either explain its decision to use the 2008 data, or use the 2009 data to select a surrogate country. CIT also sustained the use of an Indian company’s financial statements to calculate surrogate financial ratios.

The International Trade Administration assigned Gem Year the separate antidumping rate of 55.16 percent, instead of the China-wide AD rate of 206 percent originally assigned, in a remand redetermination of the 2008-10 administrative review of steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932) that was sustained by the Court of International Trade Feb. 7. During the review, the ITA found that Gem Year had no entries for which liquidation was suspended to review, ignoring Gem Year’s entries of subject merchandise that had been liquidated due to an error by an unaffiliated importer, and assigned it to the China-wide entity. But in a September 2012 ruling, CIT said the ITA’s position that liquidated entries are unreviewable was unjustified by the statute and the regulations, because both only refer to “entries.” In sustaining the remand redetermination, the court said there were no “substantive challenges” to the results.

The former secretary-treasurer of Local 1233 of the International Longshoreman’s Association pleaded guilty to embezzling $71,000 from the union, the Justice Department said. Gregory Taylor, 57, of Edison, N.J., pleaded guilty to an indictment (here) charging him with issuing a vacation check for $7,852 to himself without authorization. Taylor also admitted to embezzling an additional $63,148 in union funds while he was in control of the union’s finances. Court documents said Taylor admitted he had been removed from his elected position as secretary-treasurer in April 2010, but continued to write himself checks, including a $7,852 vacation check to which he was not entitled. Taylor admitted that between 2007 and 2010, while secretary-treasurer, he embezzled a total of $71,000 by improperly cashing duplicate paychecks, as well as other checks from the union’s operating account, including for unauthorized credit card expenditures. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Taylor is scheduled to be sentenced May 6.

The Court of International Trade remanded the final results of the 2009-10 antidumping duty administrative review of polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from Taiwan (A-583-837) for the International Trade Administration to reconsider the 74.34 percent adverse facts available rate it assigned to Nan Ya Plastics Corp. Nan Ya, which was assigned the AFA rate because of non-cooperation in the review, challenged the ITA’s corroboration of the rate. Given Nan Ya’s lack of participation in the review, as well as a change in the rate from the preliminary to the final results, Nan Ya didn’t have a chance to argue the final rate selection before the ITA. The final results should be remanded to allow the ITA to address Nan Ya’s arguments, the court said.

Allegedly importing hazardous and counterfeit toys from China resulted in federal indictments in Brooklyn, N.Y., against five individuals and five corporations, the Justice Department said. The five individual defendants were arrested Feb. 6, and search and seizure warrants were executed, Justice said. The 24-count indictment charges Chenglan Hu, 51, Hua Fei Zhang, 52, and Xiu Lan Zhang, 60, all Chinese nationals and residents of Queens, N.Y., and Guan Jun Zhang, 29, and Jun Wu Zhang, 28, both naturalized citizens and Queens residents, along with their closely held companies Family Product USA Inc., H.M. Import USA Corp., ZCY Trading Corp., Zone Import Corp. and ZY Wholesale Inc., with importing and trafficking hazardous toys in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act and toys bearing copyright-infringing images and counterfeit trademarks, as well as smuggling, money laundering and structuring.

The Court of International Trade at last sustained the final results of the 2007 antidumping duty administrative review of wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890), after the International Trade Administration lowered Chinese company Orient International Holding Shanghai Foreign Trade Co.’s AD rate to 83.55 percent. The final results had been the subject of three court remands. During the administrative review, Orient withdrew from participation, so the ITA found the company to be non-cooperative and assigned it an adverse facts available AD rate. But CIT in 2011 found the ITA’s original AD rate of 216.01 percent to be unreasonably high. On remand, the ITA lowered the rate to 130.81 percent, but the court said the ITA cherry-picked data, and the rate still wasn’t realistic. This time CIT said the new 83.55 percent rate is justified.

The Court of International Trade dismissed an action by Wuxi Seamless Oil Pipe to force the International Trade Administration to rescind the 2011 countervailing duty administrative review of oil country tubular goods from China (C-570-) for the company. Wuxi originally requested the review of itself, but later withdrew its request. The withdrawal of the request, however, came after the deadline for withdrawals, and the ITA rejected Wuxi’s request to extend the deadline. According to Wuxi, the ITA is illegally applying a new standard for extensions to the withdrawal period without requesting comments to the regulatory change: While the 19 CFR 351.213(d) provides for extensions when “reasonable to do so,” the ITA in the administrative review at issue said Wuxi needed to show “extraordinary circumstances.” Rather than confront that issue, however, the court said Wuxi’s challenge was premature. CIT found the residual Section 1581(i) jurisdiction under which Wuxi filed the challenge doesn’t apply, because the company didn’t show a challenge on 1581(c) grounds following completion of the review to be inadequate, and dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturers is challenging the International Trade Administration’s antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells from China before the Court of International Trade, according to a press release issued by the group. The heart of the court challenge is the ITA’s decision to exclude from the scope of the AD/CV orders solar panels assembled in China from third-country solar cells. CASM is also challenging the ITA’s determinations not to investigate certain Chinese subsidy programs, and its decisions to afford several Chinese companies separate rate status.

The Court of International Trade ordered CBP to admit coaxial cable connectors imported by Corning Gilbert, but found by CBP to be subject to an International Trade Commission general exclusion order for patent infringement. Corning Gilbert was not a party to the ITC Section 337 investigation that resulted in the general exclusion order, and so the ITC never specifically found that the company’s connectors infringed the relevant patents. But CBP denied entry to Corning Gilbert’s connectors based on the exclusion order, and later issued a ruling letter confirming that the company’s connectors were to be refused entry. CIT found that CBP’s ruling letter was not entitled to deference because the agency didn’t adequately address the question of patent infringement. After examining the patent at issue and Corning Gilbert’s connector, CIT said the connector didn’t infringe the relevant patents and should not have been excluded.

One fugitive has been captured and extradited to the U.S., and several federal fugitives continue to be sought in connection to a multi-million dollar export fraud scheme, said the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. The OIG said its investigations found that the fugitives and several other defendants conspired to defraud the Ex-Im Bank of millions of dollars through various loan schemes resulting in over $22 million in claims paid by Ex-Im Bank. The fugitives have been charged with a variety of federal criminal violations to include conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering, it said.