The International Trade Commission is proposing to permanently adopt its COVID-19 era regulation that waived the need for paper filings of confidential and public documents in safeguard, antidumping and countervailing duty, and Section 337 proceedings. In a proposed rule released March 28, the ITC, at the request of the ITC Trial Lawyers Association and the Customs and International Trade Bar Association, proposed eliminating the requirement for paper copy submissions, except for complaints and complaint supplements and amendments in Section 337 cases. The regulation also removes "gender-specific language" found in the ITC's rules.
The Court of International Trade on March 26 ordered importer Lutron Electronics Co. to submit a supplemental brief further explaining its demand for redacted information in CBP's internal documents as part of a customs suit on the company's window shade machines. Judge Richard Eaton said Lutron must reconcile its motion to compel the documents with the holdings from Ford Motor Co. v. U.S., a 2010 U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision (Lutron Electronics Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00264).
The Commerce Department on March 26 set a higher antidumping duty rate for exporter Ningbo Master International Trade in the investigation on beer kegs from China after electing on remand to use Brazilian wage data for the surrogate labor value. The exporter's rate. if sustained by the Court of International Trade, would rise from a de minimis mark to 4.23%, lifting the separate rate applicants' AD mark with it by an equal amount (New American Keg v. United States, CIT # 20-00008).
A World Trade Organization dispute panel found that certain elements of Australian antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings on wind towers, deep drawn stainless steel sinks and railway wheels from China violate WTO commitments. Issuing its findings March 26, the panel recommended that Australia bring its measures into conformity with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
Zhiwei "Allen" Liao was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay $120,370 for his role in an "international conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit Apple products," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced March 25. He also was ordered to forfeit two residences and 200 Apple devices.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade in a March 25 confidential order granted motions to treat submissions from the U.S. and Chinese exporter Ninestar as highly sensitive documents in Ninestar's case contesting its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. The submissions pertained to the exporter's motion to unseal and unredact the record, which argued that the company needs access to the information in the proceeding to adequately defend itself (see 2403220035) (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The government is deploying a "smoke and mirrors approach" to distract the Court of International Trade from exporter Chandan Steel Limited's arguments in a case related to the 2018-19 antidumping duty review on Indian stainless steel flanges, Chandan argued March 25 (Kisaan Die Tech Private, Ltd. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00512).
China opened a case at the World Trade Organization against the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act's rules for electric vehicle subsidies and "other measures," the nation's Ministry of Commerce announced March 26, according to an unofficial translation.
Negotiations on Costa Rica's accession to the 2012 Government Procurement Agreement ramped up during a March 20 meeting, the World Trade Organization announced. The meeting was the first since Costa Rica sent out its initial market access offer last month. The WTO also noted a March 21 workshop on the role of digital technologies in boosting trade and competition in government procurement, which featured a discussion from policymakers and practitioners. In addition to a focus on using digital tools to automate tasks, "using predictive analytics and enhancing fraud detection, the workshop highlighted potential risks, such as the violation of privacy and skills gaps."