The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 8 affirmed a lower court’s denial of an injunction to an importer challenging the effective date of an antidumping duty increase. Sumec, an importer of solar cells, sought an order barring liquidation of its entries after a Court of International Trade decision that raised the rate of its exporter, but before notice of that increase was published in the Federal Register. CAFC, like CIT, held the order unnecessary because an injunction covering those entries has already been issued in another case and, even without an injunction, the government admits the entries should be liquidated if the importer wins the case.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 29 - May 3 in case they were missed.
Textiles are “completely embedded” in plastics, and classifiable in chapter 39 of the tariff schedule, when their fibers are fixed by a surrounding mass of plastic, though the plastic does not necessarily have to cover all sides of the fibers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a May 2 decision affirming a lower court on the classification of sausage casings.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 29 affirmed a lower court ruling that found Santa Claus costumes imported by Rubies Costume Company are classifiable in the tariff classification as apparel, not as festive articles. CAFC ruled the Court of International Trade correctly found the costumes are “fancy dress” excluded from classification in tariff schedule chapter 95 (see 1711010028), it said in the decision.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 8 affirmed a lower court ruling that held locking pliers imported by Irwin Industrial Tool Company are classifiable as pliers, not as wrenches. Though the government contended the locking pliers are best suited for wrenching, the Federal Circuit ruled use should not be a factor in their classification, because the relevant tariff provisions specifically refer by name to hand tools that have the characteristics of pliers and wrenches.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 12 issued a decision affirming a lower court ruling that upheld antidumping and countervailing duties on solar products from China, finding Commerce was permitted to apply a different country of origin test in those orders from the orders it issued concurrently on Taiwan.
Fiber optic telecommunications equipment that operates by pulses of infrared light is classifiable as “optical instruments” of Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9013, even though it doesn’t work by way of visible light, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a Feb. 19 decision that affirmed the classification set by CBP and upheld by the Court of International Trade.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 15 sent back down a lower court decision on the tariff classification of lockable doorknobs, finding the Court of International Trade improperly found them only classifiable as locks when it should have considered them as composite goods with characteristics of both locks and doorknobs.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 16 upheld a ruling by the Court of International Trade that compression leg hosiery imported by Sigvaris does not qualify for duty-free treatment as articles specially designed for use by the handicapped, despite finding fault with the reasoning in the lower court’s decision.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 6 affirmed a lower court ruling on the classification of battery-powered candles in heading 9405 as lamps and lighting fittings. CAFC largely agreed with the Court of International Trade's finding in a Gerson Company challenge to CBP's classification of the candles after liquidation in heading 9405 with a 3.9 percent duty rate during 2009 and 2010 (see 1708030011). Gerson appealed CIT's ruling over what the company said were errors in the court's analysis.