A dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization on March 5 found that the EU's measures on palm oil and oil palm crop-based biofuels issued under its Renewable Energy Directive are generally compatible with the bloc's WTO commitments, but that elements of the policies violate global trade rules. The panel also weighed in on similar French and Lithuanian measures on the relevant products.
Importer Sucden Americas Corp. and the U.S. filed a stipulation of dismissal in a customs suit pertaining to the company's four entries of white refined sugar from Guatemala. The U.S. moved to dismiss the lawsuit in December, arguing that the case must be tossed because the importer didn't protest the liquidation of its entries or the denials of its post-importation preference claims (see 2312110045). As a result, the government said there was no subject-matter jurisdiction in the suit under Section 1581(a) (Sucden Americas Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00228).
A group of steel nail exporters led by PT Enterprise will appeal a February Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's use of a simple average of standard deviations in the denominator of the Cohen's d test in detecting "masked" dumping as part of the antidumping duty investigation on steel nails from Taiwan (see 2402120036). The companies will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where the Cohen's d test is being litigated in a lead case, Stupp Corp. v. U.S. The government's central contention in the present case is that Commerce's use of the full population of data precludes it from needing to satisfy statistical assumptions such as the normal variance of data (Mid Continent Steel and Wire v. U.S., CIT # 15-00213).
The U.S. on March 4 opposed exporter Chandan Steel Limited's motion for reconsideration of the Court of International Trade's order sustaining the company's adverse facts available rate in the 2018-19 antidumping duty review on stainless steel flanges from India. The government argued that the court properly found it didn't need to resolve certain issues pertaining to Chandan's allocation method for reporting its costs of production and that Chandan failed to show any "manifest error" in the court's decision to sustain the use of AFA based on the exporter's inadequate reporting of comparison market window period sales (Kisaan Die Tech Private, Ltd. v. United States, CIT # 21-00512).
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public March 5 sustained the Commerce Department's use of exporter Nexco's acquisition costs as a proxy for its suppliers' costs of production in the antidumping duty investigation on raw honey from Argentina.
South Africa launched a safeguard investigation on flat-rolled products of iron, non-alloy steel or other alloy steel, the country told the World Trade Organization's committee on safeguards on Feb. 29. South Africa said interested parties must make their submissions within a 20-day period after the start of the investigation on Feb. 23.
World Trade Organization members at the body's 13th Ministerial Conference decided to extend the moratorium on e-commerce duties until MC14 or March 31, 2026, whichever comes first, the WTO announced at the conclusion of the ministerial. They also agreed to conduct "period reviews on the E-commerce Work Programme" with the goal of "presenting recommendations for action to the Ministerial Conference."
The Court of International Trade on March 1 said "all attorneys eligible for renewal registration" must submit a renewal form and that non-federal government attorneys must pay a $75 registration fee by June 1. Lawyers admitted in 2023 and 2024 are exempt from the renewal requirements, the court said. Failure to renew will lead to the "removal of the attorney from the court's bar roll, without prejudice to an application for admission as a new member." Registration fees may be waived.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last week issued guidance on "allowable and unallowble counsel scheduling conflicts" with oral argument sessions, clarifying that the list is non-exhaustive. The guidance said the three key requirements needed for a showing of "good cause" in rescheduling oral arguments are "certainty," in that the "conflict is already scheduled"; "specificity"; and "strong basis," which means the conflict must be for a "strong reason" and can't be easily "resolved or rescheduled."
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade: