Law enforcement officials arrested a Chinese citizen in Seattle on Feb. 10 for allegedly breaking export control laws, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Washington. The government alleges See Kee Chin, aka Alfred Chin, of Hong Kong, entered the U.S. to obtain restricted parts and illegally smuggle them to China. According to the attorney’s office, Chin attempted to export accelerometers designated on the U.S. Munitions List. The accelerometers are designed for use in spacecraft. Chin was arrested after coming to pick up the order and paying $85,000 for the accelerometers. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $1 million.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 6 ordered the Commerce Department to reconsider aspects of its 2010-11 antidumping duty administrative review on steel threaded rod from China (A-570-932). Chinese steel rod producers RMB Fasteners and IFI & Morgan, as well as their affiliated supplier Jiaxing Brother, had challenged the country chosen by Commerce to value their non-market inputs. When calculating home market prices in a non-market economy like China, Commerce constructs prices based on the market prices for inputs in a “surrogate country.” Commerce had chosen Thailand over the Philippines, resulting in a 19.68% AD duty rate. As a relatively less-developed country, choosing the Philippines would likely have resulted in lower input prices and cheaper constructed Chinese market prices, reducing the appearance of relative underpricing (i.e., dumping) in the U.S.as a result. CIT told Commerce to take another look at its choice of Thailand over the Philippines, citing aberrations in Thai data for some inputs used to make steel threaded rod.
Beef jerky is correctly classified as a cured meat in the tariff schedule, said the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 3 as it denied an appeal by importer Link Snacks. Although the production of beef jerky involves an additional drying process, the product is also cured beforehand, which puts it squarely within the parameters of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for meat “of bovine animals: cured or pickled,” said CAFC.
Two more airlines have agreed to settle allegations that they fixed the price of air cargo surcharges. Korean Air and Singapore Airlines will pay over $200 million to settle the class action lawsuit at the Eastern New York U.S. District Court. Companies that purchased air freight services from any of the defendants to the lawsuit (here) between Jan. 1, 2000, and Sept. 11, 2006, are eligible to claim a share of the settlement money, according to an alert from Sandler Travis, which represents several plaintiffs in the case. The District Court preliminarily approved the settlements on Jan. 29. Several other companies, including Lufthansa, Air France, and Japan Airlines, have already settled, according to court filings.
Curtain wall units are “parts” that are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), said the Court of International Trade on Jan. 30 as it affirmed a Commerce Department scope ruling. Although curtain wall units are highly manufactured, and need only be fastened together to form a completed building facade, the term “part” in the scope of the AD/CVD orders on aluminum extrusions doesn’t necessarily mean something small or basic, said the court.
A New York man and his company pleaded guilty Jan. 29 in Eastern New York U.S. District Court to Lacey Act violations stemming from the mislabeling of imported piranhas. Joel Rakower and his wholly-owned company Transship Discounts will serve probation and pay a fine for labeling piranhas as a common aquarium fish on packing lists to avoid a New York City ban on the aggressive predator, and providing those false packing lists to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
In an unpublished opinion that can’t be cited to argue other cases, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit rejected on Jan. 24 the amount of restitution a lower court had ordered from an importer of counterfeit DVDs. The Florida Middle U.S. District Court had ordered Dale Borders to pay $365,605.31 to the victims of his counterfeiting scheme. Borders had been on CBP’s radar since around 2006, and was estimated to have brought in over 33,000 counterfeit DVDs, despite several run-ins with the agency. At sentencing in February 2013, the government arrived at its requested restitution amount by estimating the total number of DVDs Borders had allegedly imported based on the weight of several shipments, and multiplying that number by the manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP). On appeal, the 11th Circuit said the restitution should have instead been based on the number of DVDs that actually entered the marketplace and injured the intellectual property rights holders. Without evidence to that effect, the appeals court vacated the restitution order, but allowed Borders’ 30-month prison term to stand.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Jan. 28 affirmed a $2.6 million class action judgment against a Chinese drywall manufacturer. The Eastern Louisiana U.S. District Court had awarded the judgment, plus another $150,000 in interest, after finding Taishan Gypsum Co. Ltd. sold defective drywall to a distributor in Virginia that was later bought by seven Virginia families.
Seven Ohio oncologists will pay almost $2.6 million in fines and restitution for illegally importing cancer medications that had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio on Jan. 29. All seven had pleaded guilty to causing the shipment of misbranded drugs, a misdemeanor violation. They will also serve probation.
The term “bedroom” in the scope of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from China does not automatically exclude products intended for use outside of bedrooms from AD duties, said the Court of International Trade on Jan. 29 as it affirmed a Commerce Department scope ruling. Although Medline Industries argued its wooden headboards and footboards were intended for use in hospitals and shouldn’t be subject to AD duties, the court said the term “bedroom” doesn’t limit the order’s scope to a particular end use. Instead, the order lists products that could be considered “wooden bedroom furniture,” and wooden headboards and footboards are on that list, said CIT.