CAFC Consolidates 2 Cases Over Jurisdiction for EAPA Challenges
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an Oct. 28 order consolidated two appeals of a lower court opinion dismissing importer Dr. Bronner's complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction over xanthan gum imports, dismissing GLoB Energy Corp.'s complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and denying the remaining motions for judgment on the agency record. One case was appealed from the Court of International Trade by Ascencion Chemicals, UMD Solutions and Crude Chem Technology, while the other was brought by GLoB (All God One Faith, dba Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps v. United States, Fed. Cir. #23-1078).
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All four of these companies, along with Dr. Bronner's, had all been found by CBP to have transshipped Chinese xanthan gum through India to avoid antidumping duties in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation. They filed suit under 28 USC 1581(c), the CIT jurisdiction provision for challenging EAPA cases. But in the meantime, CBP had “evidently in error” liquidated the five entries subject to the customs agency’s evasion finding, according to the government. While Dr. Bronner's and GLoB protested the liquidation, they did not challenge the denied protest, which CBP had denied “in light of the issuance of the initial EAPA determination” in March 2020, CIT said. As a result, the trade court said it lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the case (see 2208180045).