The Court of International Trade on April 19 remanded the International Trade Commission's affirmative injury finding on oil country tubular goods from Argentina, Mexico, Russia and South Korea. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said it was "unreasonable" for the ITC to view the conditions of competition over a 42-month review period without considering the effects of competition at the end of the period and on the day that it voted, particularly in light of the effect of U.S. sanctions on Russia, imposed over the last four months of the review period. The judge also cited as reasons for the remand the commission's failure to consider contrary evidence of the effects of sanctions on Russian OCTG and the ITC's inclusion of non-subject South Korean imports in its analysis. She upheld the commission's decision to cumulate imports from Argentina and Mexico with goods from Russia and South Korea.
The Court of International Trade sent back the Commerce Department's finding that exporter East Sea Seafoods Joint Stock Co. qualified for a separate antidumping duty rate in the 2019-20 review of the AD order on catfish from Vietnam, remarking that the agency failed to "show its work." Judge M. Miller Baker additionally remanded Commerce's methodology for calculating exporter Green Farms' AD rate and selection of India over Indonesia as the primary surrogate nation for setting the rate for exporter NTSF Seafoods Joint Stock Company.
Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department on April 16 once again found, on remand, that the South Korean government’s cap-and-trade carbon emissions program was de jure specific to one of the program’s users, a steel exporter (Hyundai Steel Co. v. U.S., CIT #22-00029).
The Ukraine High Anti-Corruption Court on April 10 upheld the Ministry of Justice's bid to impose sanctions and confiscate the assets of former Minister of Education and Science Dmytro Tabachnyk, according to an unofficial translation. The court noted that Tabachnyk is in the "temporarily occupied territories" and helps support the creation and functioning of the occupying administrations. The Ukrainian government sought to confiscate five land plots, a residential building, half a share of an apartment and monetary assets from the former minister. Ukraine's enforcement of its sanctions regime takes the form of asset freezes, the seizure of property and criminal sanctions, according to a blog post from global law firm Baker McKenzie. Ukraine passed legislation last year allowing for the "expropriation of property of" sanctioned parties.
The Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) last week raided a lawyer's lobbying firm offices as part of an investigation into "suspected fictitious transactions," Cyprus newspaper Phileleftheros reported. The investigation centered on Finsol, a firm that provides services to Santinomo, which reportedly holds shares in Intellexa AE -- an entity that's part of U.S.-sanctioned spyware firm Intellexa. The suspicious transactions began "shortly after US sanctions were imposed on entities of the Intellexa group," the newspaper's report said. A Greek lawyer registered with CBA owns Finsol. The CBA's compliance and oversight department is conducting the investigation and, upon its conclusion, will send a report to the association's administrative council. The council will decide whether "disciplinary measures will be taken or, more importantly, whether the case will be referred to the police for criminal investigation," Phileleftheros reported.
A former North Korean official serving in Thailand, Myong Ho Ri, was charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions, bank fraud and money laundering, DOJ announced.
The Court of International Trade in an opinion made public April 16 sent back the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against exporter Garg Tube Exports in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India.
Israel's Supreme Court earlier this month overturned a lower court decision that ordered Mizrahi Tefahot Bank to transfer a donation Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich sought to make to Israeli humanitarian group ZAKA Search and Rescue, according to Israeli newspaper Globes. The bank refused to process the transaction, which totaled over $213,000, due to the risk of EU and U.K. sanctions being levied against the bank for circumvention of sanctions on Abramovich.