After a remand order forced the Commerce Department to use Brazilian rather than Mexican labor cost data in calculating two Chinese exporters’ value, those exporters pushed back on the decision and the subsequent increase they saw in their own antidumping duties (New American Keg v. U.S., CIT # 20-00008).
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The Commerce Department on June 10 changed the subsidy that it used to derive the adverse facts available countervailing duty rate for China's Export Buyer's Credit Program in a CVD review, following a rebuke from the Court of International Trade. In its remand results in a suit on the 2017 review on narrow woven ribbons from China, Commerce used the 0.87% subsidy rate for the Export Seller's Credit Program in a CVD proceeding on chrlorinated isocyanurates from China to set the CVD rate for the EBCP (Yama Ribbons and Bows Co. v. United States, CIT # 20-00059).
Customs broker Seko Logistics asked the Court of International Trade on June 7 for expedited briefing in its suit against CBP's suspension of the company from Type 86 filing and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Seko said greater delay in the case "deprives the requested relief of much of its value" and sets "extraordinary hardship" on the broker (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).
Seko Logistics will still pursue its lawsuit challenging CBP's suspension of the company from Type 86 filing and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, despite CBP's conditional reinstatement of the customs broker, according to a June 4 statement from the company. The Chicago-area customs broker and freight forwarder says CBP still hasn’t fully provided its reasons for Seko’s initial suspension.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Seko Customs Brokerage, which had added staffing to handle Type 86 filings before it was suspended from the Type 86 program beginning May 27 (see 2405310031), filed a complaint on June 3 asking the Court of International Trade to force CBP to reinstate it through an injunction.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated May 28-29 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Importer PNS Clearance dismissed its case challenging the assessment of a 1.02% antidumping duty rate on its quartz countertops. The company brought suit earlier this year to contest CBP's liquidation of 227 of the quartz countertop entries, claiming that they should be liquidated at the proper de minimis mark (see 2402160049). PNS said it acted as the importer of record but that the actual buyer was M S International and that the exporter was Pokarna Engineered Stone, which received a zero percent AD rate following an AD review of the goods. Counsel for the importer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on why the case was dismissed (PNS Clearance v. U.S., CIT # 24-00044).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: