The Court of International Trade granted domestic plaintiff Home Products International, Inc.’s (HPI) motion for reconsideration of its January 2012 ruling that sustained part of the final results of the International Trade Administration’s 2007-08 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on floor-standing, metal-top ironing tables and certain parts thereof (A-570-888). CIT conceded that it “did not fully grasp HPI’s argument” against the ITA’s decision to value respondent Since Hardware (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd.’s carton input using market economy prices. After fully understanding HPI’s argument, CIT remanded the determination to the ITA for further explanation.

The former acting director of intelligence for Immigration and Customs Enforcement pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of more than $180,000 in a scheme involving fraudulent travel vouchers, and time and attendance claims, ICE reports. James M. Woosley, 48, formerly of Tucson, Ariz., pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conversion of government money. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson scheduled sentencing for July 13, 2012. Under federal guidelines, Woosley faces a likely sentence of 18 to 27 months in prison as well as a potential fine. In addition, as part of his plea agreement, he agreed to forfeiture of the money he wrongfully obtained.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Court of International Trade’s affirmance of the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination, which the ITA completed under protest, of its final results of its 2007 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from India (C-533-821). CAFC said the CIT improperly exceeded its authority by requiring the ITA to reopen and supplement the record to admit untimely filed documentation when the Indian respondent and plaintiff, Essar Steel Limited, did not cooperate to the best of its ability.

An executive of Korea's Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. (HLDS) agreed to plead guilty and serve time in a U.S. prison for participating in a series of conspiracies to rig bids for the sale of optical disk drives, the Department of Justice said April 30.

A general challenge of the International Trade Administration’s alleged failure to require explanations from petitioners for review requests and withdrawals of review requests in antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings was dismissed by the Court of International Trade because of lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The Court of International Trade found that there is no regulation, statute, or practice establishing a time limit for interested party submissions that rebut information that the International Trade Administration places on the record, and consequently remanded the ITA's decision to reject as untimely plaintiffs’ rebuttal of data that the ITA had placed on the record in a new shipper review of honey from China (A-570-863).

Seven stolen and looted, and illegally imported objects of Italian cultural heritage will soon be on their way back to Italy, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The U.S. and Italy negotiated an agreement in 2001 prohibiting the import of certain Italian archaeological material into the U.S. without proper export documents.

The Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Ping Cheng and Prime Technology Corporation, both of New York State, have agreed to $125,000 fines and two-year denial of export privileges for each to settle allegations that they conspired to violate the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The two-year denial period, as well as $75,000 in fines for each, will be suspended as long as neither commits additional export control violations during the two year period. According to BIS, the violations involve attempts to export carbon fiber to China for use by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) without the required U.S. government authorizations.

The Court of International Trade affirmed, in part, the International Trade Administration’s remand redetermination in the 2006-07 antidumping administrative review of certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Korea (A-580-816). With respect to plaintiff-intervenor Nucor’s challenge of the ITA’s decision not to treat Korean exporters Union Steel and POSCO Group as a single entity, the only contested issue, CIT found that the ITA’s explanation of its decision in the remand redetermination was supported by record evidence and in accordance with law, and affirmed.

The Court of International Trade affirmed a voluntary remand by the International Trade Administration on the issue of fraud by plaintiff Tianjin Magnesium International, a respondent in the 2006-07 administrative review of an antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from China (A-570-832). CIT also affirmed the ITA’s decision to apply Adverse Facts Available (AFA) in determining Tianjin’s rate as a result of that fraud.