The Court of International Trade remanded for a third time the International Trade Administration’s adverse facts available (AFA) rate for Orient¹ in the 2007 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890). The ITA brought the rate down to 130.81% in its second remand redetermination (from 216.01% in the final results and first remand redetermination), but CIT said the rate is still not within the bounds of commercial reality. CIT also sustained the ITA’s use of another data set to determine the surrogate value for wood inputs.

A former Staff Sergeant in a U.S. Special Forces National Guard unit pleaded guilty Sept. 6 to violating the Arms Export Control Act. According to the Department of Justice, Joseph Debose, 30, of North Carolina, provided multiple shipments of firearms to co-conspirators who then secreted the weapons in packages and transported them to shipping companies to be sent to customers in China. The weapons included numerous semiautomatic handguns, rifles and shotguns, DoJ said. When sentenced, Debose faces up to 20 years in prison.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adopted changes to its Appellate Mediation Program Guidelines regarding: (1) confidentiality; and (2) settlements that include terms concerning vacatur of a district court ruling. Changes are as follows:

The Court of International Trade ruled that CBP correctly classified plaintiff Telebrands Corporation’s PedEgg foot callus remover as other cutlery rather than a pedicure set. Although the device includes both a blade and emery pads to remove excess skin, the PedEgg is not a set because it is a single instrument, CIT said.

The Court of International Trade sustained a remand redetermination of the final results of the 2007-08 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on silicon metal from China (A-570-806) with respect to the International Trade Administration’s use of Indian company FACOR’s financial statement as a surrogate to calculate Chinese respondents’ selling, general and administrative expenses. The ITA excluded FACOR’s sale of a power plant from the calculation as a non-routine transaction. Defendant-intervenors Shanghai Jinneng International Trade Co., Ltd. and Jiangxi Gangyuan Silicon Industry Co., Ltd. argued that the sale should have been included. But CIT found that they failed to adequately explain “how the sale of an entire power plant by ferroalloy producers, not in the business of selling power plants, amounts to an insignificant, routine transaction, and further, why that determination is the only outcome that the administrative record reasonably supports.”

The Court of International Trade remanded part of the International Trade Administration’s final determination in the countervailing duty investigation of multilayered wood flooring from China (C-570-971) for the ITA to reconsider its inclusion of two companies in a list of non-cooperating companies assigned an adverse facts available rate.

The Court of International Trade rejected CBP’s motion for over $80,000 in penalties from U.S. company Active Frontier International, Inc. (AFI) for falsely declaring country of origin on seven entries of apparel made during 2006 and 2007. CBP failed to establish that the misstatements were “material,” as required by 19 USC 1592 for imposition of a penalty, CIT said. The denial was without prejudice, so CBP is free to amend its complaint.

The Court of International Trade remanded the International Trade Administration’s calculation of normal value for plaintiff Far Eastern New Century Corp. (FENC) in the 09-10 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain polyester staple fiber from Taiwan (A-583-833). After publication of the final results, FENC told the ITA that it had committed a ministerial error by using an earlier version of FENC’s selling, general, and administrative expenses ratio to calculate FENC’s normal value, instead of the corrected version submitted later in the proceeding. The ITA disagreed, so FENC filed suit at CIT. But after the suit was filed, the ITA reexamined the record and found that it “may not have used the corrected normal value” in calculating the final AD rate. The ITA and FENC both requested the remand, and CIT assented.

InterDigital appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit an International Trade Commission determination to terminate the Section 337 patent investigation of certain wireless devices with 3G capabilities and components thereof (337-TA-800) with respect to respondent LG. The ITC’s investigation is still pending, and completion is targeted for June 28, 2013. The ITC terminated the investigation with respect to LG on July 6 based on an arbitration clause in a license agreement, despite InterDigital’s opposition.

A Miami-based ship surveyor was sentenced to 21 months in prison for lying to the Coast Guard and falsely certifying that inspections had been carried out on two ships, the Department of Justice said Aug. 29. The inspections were designed to ensure that the ships were seaworthy and didn't pose a threat to the crew or the marine environment, said Ignacia Moreno, assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources division.