Richard Kazmaier, former associate professor of biology at West Texas A&M University, was sentenced to six months in prison, three years of post-release supervision and a $5,000 fine for "importing protected wildlife" without declaring it or getting the proper permits, DOJ announced Jan. 11. Kazmaier admitted to importing around 358 wildlife items -- skulls, skeletons and taxidermy mounts -- in violation of the Lacey Act.
Country of origin cases
The Commerce Department illegally based the dumping rate for separate rate respondents on a single mandatory respondent, plaintiffs Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. and Carbon Activated Corp. argued in a Jan. 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit established that Commerce is not allowed to do so, in its August 2022 decision in YC Rubber (North America) v. U.S., the plaintiffs said (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00335).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, during Jan. 10 oral arguments, heard disputes over whether the court should follow the Court of International Trade in setting aside Section 232 national security tariffs on derivative products made of steel and aluminum. Seeking to differentiate the appeal from the Federal Circuit's decision in Transpacific Steel v. U.S., in which the court said the president can take certain Section 232 action beyond procedural deadlines, counsel for plaintiff-appellants PrimeSource Building Products, Oman Fasteners and Huttig Building Products said the matter is different for derivative goods, while the government said Transpacific has settled the matter (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. , Fed. Cir. # 21-2066).
CBP is reversing its finding that six companies evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China, after finding it did not consider important evidence when it affirmed the original evasion finding in an administrative review, in remand results filed Jan. 4 at the Court of International Trade (H&E Home Inc., et al. v. United States, CIT # 21-00337).
The Commerce Department stuck by its decisions not to account for compliance costs in its countervailing duty calculations for programs under the Electricity Tax Act and Energy Tax Act and to find that Germany's KAV program is de jure specific, in remand results filed with the Court of International Trade on Jan. 10. Commerce said that it did not make any changes to the CVD rates in the investigation for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. United States, CIT # 21-00080).
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit judges questioned the limits of the finished merchandise exclusion in antidumping and countervailing duty orders during Jan. 9 oral argument in a case over whether solar panel roof mounts fall within the scope of the AD/CVD orders on aluminum extrusions from China. While Judges Pauline Newman, Raymond Chen and Tiffany Cunningham questioned plaintiff-appellant China Custom Manufacturing's contention that its solar mounts are a finished product even though they are incorporated into a larger downstream product, the judges further probed the U.S. claims against this point with equal vigor (China Custom Manufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1345).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
CBP has found sufficient evidence to initiate an investigation on whether LE North America (doing business as LE Surfaces) evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on quartz surface products from China and imposed interim measures, it said in a notice dated Dec. 20 and released on Jan. 9.
The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 9 opinion denied the New Zealand government's bid to delay a preliminary injunction barring the import of certain fish taken from New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries into the U.S. The New Zealand government requested the temporary stay of the PI to set up a traceability system that would help the govenrment identify the fish subject to the injunction. Judge Gary Katzmann said that the need to set up this system does not constitute a changed circumstance that would permit the modification of the PI.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: