Jacob Kopnick

Anti-forced labor advocacy group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) will appeal a Court of International Trade decision finding it didn't have standing to challenge CBP's inaction in responding to a petition to ban cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire. The trade court said IRAdvocates failed to show that the agency's inaction harmed a "core business or diminished any asset" -- a standard estsablished by the Supreme Court (see 2408080049). Counsel for IRAdvocates said if its claim for standing fails on appeal, it's prepared to refile the case using a party that could hurdle the trade court's understanding of standing, such as a child laborer in West Africa or a U.S. chocolate company that competes with imports made using child labor (see 2408160009) (International Rights Advocates v. Alejandro Mayorkas, CIT # 23-00165).

The U.S. and importer Greenlight Organic, along with its owner Parambir Singh "Sonny" Aulakh, filed a joint stipulation of dismissal in the government's customs fraud suit against Greenlight and its owner. The dismissal comes after the parties filed a joint status report noting that a settlement was reached in the case (see 2408260014) (United States v. Greenlight Organic, CIT # 17-00031).

The U.S. will pay conservation groups Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society $375,000 in attorney's fees related to their case on an import ban on fish from New Zealand's West Coast North Island inshore trawl and set net fisheries under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (Sea Shepherd New Zealand v. U.S., CIT # 20-00112).

The Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit on Sept. 6 extended the ban on Judge Pauline Newman from hearing new cases for another year. The decision comes after a recommendation from Judges Kimberly Moore, Sharon Prost and Richard Taranto to extend the sanction on Newman, 97, which was originally imposed for her refusal to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness to continue serving as a judge (see 2407240029). The three judges said Newman hadn't shown any evidence to undermine the record "raising serious concerns about" her "cognitive state" and that the judge still hasn't cooperated with the investigation. The extended ban will run for one year from the date of the Sept. 6 order.

The U.S. voluntarily dismissed its appeal of a case initially filed by importer Fraserview Remanufacturing to contest the erroneous deemed liquidation of its goods that were subject to suspended liquidation. The Court of International Trade in the case said Fraserview didn't need a protest to file its suit (see 2401250039). The court said that since the statute for deemed liquidation requires that the entries not be suspended, CBP's notices of deemed liquidation didn't operate to actually liquidate the entries. The U.S. appealed the decision but dropped the matter in a joint stipulation on Sept. 5 (Fraserview Remanufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-2049).

The EU General Court on Sept. 4 upheld the sanctions listing for Samer al-Assad, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after rejecting Samer al-Assad's claim that the EU's listing criteria, which permit sanctions on the president's family members, violates "general principles of EU law."

The EU Court of Justice on Sept. 5 said that a notary doesn't violate sanctions on Russia by authenticating the sale of a property owned by a non-sanctioned Russian company. The court said that authentication services don't amount to the provision of "legal advisory services," which are barred under EU sanctions if provided to "legal persons established in Russia."

DOJ on Sept. 5 unsealed two indictments against dual Russian-U.S. citizens Dimitri Simes and Anastasia Simes, residents of Huntly, Virginia, for their role in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions.

The Commerce Department stuck by its treatment of antidumping duty respondent Assan Aluminyum's raw material costs and hedging revenues on remand at the Court of International Trade in the AD investigation on aluminum foil from Turkey. However, the agency modified Assan's duty drawback adjustment, resulting in a slight uptick in the respondent's AD rate, from 2.28% to 2.3% (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Tiaret v. United States, CIT # 21-00616).

Importer Woodcraft Supply filed a complaint on Sept. 6 at the Court of International Trade seeking refunds on duties overpaid due to CBP's refusal to use "first sale" valuation on the company's woodworking tools and related article imports (Woodcraft Supply v. United States, CIT # 22-00253).