CIT Delays Withdrawal of Section 201 Exclusion

The Court of International Trade ordered that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative delay the effective date for a planned withdrawal of an exclusion to Section 201 safeguard measures. The Oct. 25 order, which was approved by Judge Gary Katzmann, followed an agreement between the Justice Department and Invenergy Renewables, which filed a challenge to the withdrawal. Invenergy, which is represented by Crowell and Moring, filed a complaint on Oct. 22 that asked the CIT for an injunction blocking the withdrawal due to what the company said were various statutory violations. The USTR on Oct. 9 said it would withdraw the exclusion for bifacial solar panels consisting only of bifacial solar cells on Oct. 28. Both sides agreed to extend the effective date to Nov. 8. That will give the CIT "additional time to address the arguments that the parties put forth in their respective filings and, thus, foster the just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of this action," Invenergy said in an Oct. 25 filing.