The Court of International Trade remanded, for the second time, the International Trade Administration’s determination that Advanced Technology & Minerals Co. (AT&M) was not state-controlled and was therefore eligible for a separate rate in the antidumping investigation of diamond sawblades and parts thereof from China (A-570-900). The ITA’s explanation from the first remand was inadequate, the court said, but CIT declined to otherwise express an opinion on the ITA’s determination.

The Court of International Trade approved amendments to its rules, originally proposed Oct. 3, after considering comments on the changes. Effective Jan. 1, 2013, CIT will make changes to Rules 3, 5, 56, 56.2, 65, 73.2, 75 and 81; USCIT Forms 5, 11, 14 (new) and 18A (new); USCIT Specific Instructions for Forms 11, 14 (new) and 18A (new); Administrative Order 02-01; Appendix on Access to Business Proprietary Information Pursuant to Rule 73.2(c); and Standard Chambers Procedures, including new Forms SCP 1, SCP 2, SCP 3 and SCP 4.

The Court of International Trade sustained the final results of the 2009-10 antidumping administrative review of certain orange juice from Brazil (A-351-840) in response to a challenge by Fischer and Citrosuco. Plaintiffs said the ITA improperly (1) included bunker fuel surcharges in Fischer’s surrogate freight rate; (2) used window period sales in calculating Fischer’s constructed value for certain months of the period of review; and (3) used zeroing to calculate Fischer’s dumping margin. CIT disagreed with plaintiffs arguments on the bunker fuel surcharge, and accepted the ITA’s explanation for zeroing. Also, Plaintiffs argument on the use of window period sales was only raised as a ministerial error, CIT said, and plaintiffs therefore did not exhaust its administrative remedies.

NJC International and its principal officer, Dwayne Hoard, must pay $23,305.20 in penalties on textile entries from 2004 that were allegedly of Chinese origin. CBP demanded payment of the penalties for gross negligence after finding the textiles would have been subject to quote had they not been falsely declared of Hong Kong origin. Hoard failed to respond to CBP’s motion for summary judgment, so the court found him to be in default. Relying only on CBP’s argument’s, the court then found for CBP. CIT also ordered Hoard and NJC to pay costs.

A Queens, N.Y., man was arrested Nov. 6 in connection with a scheme to illegally export defense articles and goods with military applications from the U.S. to Taiwan and China, said the Department of Justice. Mark Henry faces charges of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, a violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and an attempt to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Standard Chartered Bank agreed to pay $132 million to settle its potential liability for apparent violations of U.S. sanctions, said the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control. The settlement announced Dec. 10 resolves OFAC’s investigation into the removal or omission by SCB’s London head office and Dubai branch of material references to U.S.-sanctioned locations or entities from payment messages sent to U.S. financial institutions.

The Court of International Trade denied Husqvarna’s petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the International Trade Administration to issue a “provisional cash deposit rate” in the overdue 2009-10 antidumping administrative review of diamond sawblades and parts thereof from China (A-570-900). The ITA failed to meet its final results deadline of 180 days after the preliminary results to establish the rate, because it's investigating allegations of fraud in the proceeding. Husqvarna argued it's entitled to a much lower separate rate than the China-wide rate importers currently pay for its merchandise. But CIT, using logic similar to that of the recent Hitachi and Norman G. Jensen rulings on custom protest deadlines, said the statutory 180-day final results deadline is only directory, not mandatory, because the law includes no consequence for noncompliance.

The Department of Justice announced charges against four men for exporting various goods from the U.S. to Iran and China. The goods include carbon fiber, which has a wide variety of uses, including in gas centrifuges that enrich uranium and in military aircraft and strategic missiles. The four individuals charged are Hamid Reza Hashemi, a dual U.S. and Iranian citizen who resides in Iran; Peter Gromacki, a U.S. citizen and resident of Orange County, N.Y.; Amir Abbas Tamimi, an Iranian citizen and resident of Iran; and Murat Taskiran, a Turkish citizen. Hashemi, Gromacki, and Tamimi are in custody in the U.S., DOJ said.

Markos Baghdasarian, manager of Delfin Group USA, pleaded guilty Dec. 4 to charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), violating the IEEPA and making false statements in connection with his illegal exports to Iran without the required U.S. government licenses, the Department of Justice said. At sentencing, Baghdasarian faces a potential sentence of five years in prison for conspiring to violate IEEPA, 20 years in prison for violating IEEPA and five years in prison for false statements, it said. Baghdasarian was arrested on May 19 in Atlanta and indicted June 14.

The China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Co. (Huaxing) became the first state-owned entity to plead guilty to U.S. export violations after it pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations, the Department of Justice said. The company assisted in the illegal export of controlled high-performance epoxy casings from the U.S. to Pakistan for use in a nuclear power plant that Huaxing was building as part of a China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation pact. The company will pay at least $2 million in fines, and will be required to implement an export compliance and training program and undergo third-party audits of its compliance efforts.