Anti-forced labor nonprofit International Rights Advocates on July 11 addressed the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, which denied standing to anti-abortion medical associations and individual doctors challenging the FDA's regulation of mifepristone. In fending off the government's claims that IRAdvocates lacks standing to challenge CBP's delay in responding to a withhold release order petition, the advocacy group said its case is "fundamentally distinguishable" from Alliance (International Rights Advocates v. Alejandro Mayorkas, CIT # 23-00165).
The U.S. is seeking over $1.1 million in unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties plus a $2 million civil penalty against importer Forest Group USA and its alleged successor company, Drapery Hardware USA, the government said in a customs penalty suit filed July 10 (U.S. v. Forest Group USA, CIT # 24-00117).
The Commerce Department reversed its use of adverse facts available against an Indian exporter of welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes but said it was “concerned” that use of unaffiliated, noncooperative suppliers could provide otherwise-cooperative review respondents a “cloak of invisibility” (Garg Tube Export v. U.S., CIT # 21-00169).
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit during a July 11 oral argument probed the government and parties to an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case on its standard of review in the scope case. Judge Sharon Prost said at the outset that the court is "being very careful" in terms of what it says on standard of review issues in "light of all of the recent opinions and litigation concerning standard of review" in administrative law issues (Worldwide Door Components v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1532).
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 9 granted a joint stipulation of dismissal from the U.S. and exporters led by Risen Energy Co. on the 2017 review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China. The government appealed the Court of International Trade decision siding with Risen on the agency's land benchmark calculation and use of adverse facts available pertaining to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (see 2312200026). Gregory Menegaz, counsel for Risen, said that the U.S. sought the dismissal, suggesting it was due to the "bad facts" for the U.S. in the review (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03912).
CBP ignored the metadata of certain photographs and videos in an evasion investigation in order to claim they were unreliable, a wooden cabinet importer argued July 8 at the Court of International Trade (Skyview Cabinet USA v. U.S., CIT # 22-00080).
The Court of International Trade will hold oral argument July 12 at 10 a.m. EDT in customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage's case against CBP's suspension of the company from participation in the Entry Type 86 pilot and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. Judge Claire Kelly will hear argument on Seko's application for a temporary restraining order and motion for preliminary injunction (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).
The Court of International Trade on June 17 (see 2406170037) -- in an opinion released publicly July 10 -- upheld a CBP finding that six companies didn’t evade antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China by transshipping them through the Dominican Republic. Judge Richard Eaton explained that CBP had reasonably reinterpreted record evidence within the context of other information it had failed to consider previously.
Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden on July 11 upheld the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available for an aluminum exporter that could offer only a noncertified statement of nonuse from its sole customer, saying that Commerce isn't required to verify “incomplete or unverifiable” information (Jiangsu Alcha Aluminum Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00290).