Instructions not to assess antidumping duties on “unliquidated” entries also apply to entries that have been liquidated but not finalized because they are still protestable, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a March 30 decision. Overturning a Court of International Trade ruling from 2016 (see 1610250042), the Federal Circuit held that the Commerce Department’s revocation of antidumping duties on German steel may apply to several of ThyssenKrupp’s entries that had already been liquidated by the time the revocation was announced.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 20 upheld a lower court ruling finding screws imported by GRK Canada are classifiable as self-tapping screws rather than as wood screws. Despite an earlier ruling finding an article’s use should be considered in “eo nomine” provisions of the tariff schedule that define an object by name (see 1412100060), the Federal Circuit held that the government went too far in elevating the role of use when arguing screws that may be screwed into wood are classifiable as wood screws.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 23 affirmed a lower court ruling against the Commerce Department’s new strict policies for ending antidumping and countervailing duty reviews of foreign exporters. Agreeing with a Court of International Trade Decision issued in 2015, the CAFC held that Commerce improperly changed a rule, without the required notice-and-comment, when it said in a 2011 guidance document that it would only grant late withdrawals of requests for review in “extraordinary circumstances.” The underlying regulation directs Commerce to grant requests after the deadline when “reasonable.” An importer of glycine from China had challenged the policy when Commerce refused to end a review of its supplier, Baoding Mantong, even though both Baoding Mantong and the domestic petitioner had withdrawn their requests for the Chinese company’s review. Baoding Mantong’s withdrawal was late, and the company subsequently declined to participate in the review, so Commerce assigned it a penalty AD rate of more than 400 percent. Commerce has since amended the final results of the review under CIT order to retroactively end the review of Baoding Mantong without assigning it a new AD rate.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 4 affirmed a lower court decision that found an importer of aluminum extrusions from China owes a 374.15% countervailing duty assessment, despite the applicable rate falling precipitously to 7.37% in subsequent litigation. Capella Sales & Services should have joined the court challenge, filed its own lawsuit or requested an administrative review if it wanted to benefit from the lower rate, the appeals court said. It did not, so Capella owes assessments at the cash deposit rate in effect at time of entry, CAFC said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 5 affirmed a lower court ruling on the applicability of special duty provisions for goods returned after repairs or alterations in Canada or Mexico, though it declined to rule as broadly as the Court of International Trade did in its 2016 decision. The Federal Circuit agreed that cargo vans exported by Pleasure Way for conversion into motor homes don’t qualify for classification in subheading 9802.00.50 of the tariff schedule because the exported and imported articles are commercially different, but declined to weigh in on whether they share the same “essential characteristics” or “intended use.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with a Court of International Trade decision on the classification of a chemical as a derivative of an amide despite the lack of a transformation process, the CAFC said in a Dec. 21 ruling. CIT previously ruled that the chemical, imported by Chemtall, is not an amide because, according to the Explanatory Notes (ENs), amides include only an amide functional group (see 1605260031). The lawsuit hinged on the question of whether the inclusion of a heteroatom within the chemical structure of acrylamide tertiary butyl sulfonic acid (ATBS) means ATBS cannot be considered an amide.
Santa Claus suits imported by Rubies Costume Company are classifiable in the tariff schedule as wearing apparel, not festive articles, the Court of International Trade said in an Oct. 31 decision. Though they may be festive articles because they are used only during the Christmas season, the Santa Claus suits are “fancy dress” excluded from duty free classification in Chapter 95 because they are durable items that will survive multiple wearings and cleanings, CIT said.
No new lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 21-27, nor were any appeals of Court of International Trade decisions filed that week at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to the CIT and CAFC Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) filing databases.
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