The Court of International Trade on Feb. 8, in a case brought by domestic petitioners, sustained the Commerce Department’s finding that a Chinese wood flooring exporter that had refused to participate as a 2018-2019 antidumping duty review’s mandatory respondent was still eligible for separate rate status. But the court's decision to allow Commerce to use adverse facts available against the exporter meant the review’s non-individually investigated separate rate respondents saw their rates jump from zero percent to 42.57%.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Importer Vanguard National Trailer Corp. challenged CBP's finding that the company evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese truck wheels, filing a complaint on Feb. 6 at the Court of International Trade. The importer said CBP improperly assessed AD/CVD on its entries from before May 12, 2021 -- the date on which the Commerce Department started a scope inquiry on whether Vanguard's truck wheels, imported from Thai manufacturer Asia Wheel, were covered by the AD/CVD orders (Vanguard National Trailer Corp. v. United States, CIT # 24-00034).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S. District Court for the District of Washington on Jan. 30 granted in part and denied in part importer Yakima Products' bid to seal parts of the complaint in a False Claims Act whistleblower suit against the company's alleged failure to pay import duties and false identification of the country of origin (United States v. Yakima Products Inc., D. Wash. # 21-0524).
Importer Fit for Life sought reinstatement of its customs challenge Feb. 2 after it was dismissed that same day due to lack of prosecution (Fit for Life LLC v. U.S., CIT #20-00006).
In a Jan. 31 supplemental filing after oral arguments held a week earlier by the Court of International Trade, petitioners again rejected the Commerce Department's calculation of a Turkish exporter's duty drawback adjustment. On the same day, DOJ pushed back in its own supplemental filings on a pair of questions from the court (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT #21-00246).
An anti-circumvention inquiry launched by the Commerce Department failed to name mandatory respondents or seek more than minimal information from exporters, a number of lumber importers and exporters of hardwood plywood from Vietnam said Feb. 1 in support of a motion for summary judgment (Shelter Forest International Acquisition v. U.S., CIT # 23-00144).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Fit for Life, a company that partners with brands such as Gaiam, Reebok, New Balance and Adidas, said at the Court of International Trade that CBP should have classified its imported balance ball chairs as seats of rubber or plastic, a duty-free provision under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9401, rather than as “other articles and equipment for general physical exercises” under heading 9506, which carries a 4.6% duty (Fit for Life LLC v. U.S., CIT # 20-00004).