The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Court of International Trade activity
Strike pin anchor importer Midwest Fastener and the Department of Justice signed off on the Commerce Department's remand results in an antidumping duty scope challenge in the Court of International Trade. In a May 19 reply, DOJ acknowledged that neither party challenges the remand results in the case. The original complaint challenged a scope ruling from Commerce that determined Midwest's strike pin anchors were covered by the scope of an antidumping duty order on certain steel nails from China.
The Court of International Trade denied a stay of court proceedings in one antidumping challenge brought by South Korean steel exporter SeAH Steel, but it has yet to rule on a motion to stay in separate challenge by the same company. In a May 18 order, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves shut the door on the possibility of a stay in a case challenging the final results of the 2016-17 antidumping duty administrative review of certain oil country tubular goods from South Korea, but did not comment on a case challenging the 2017-18 administrative review of the same product. In the latter case, Choe-Groves filed a letter last week informing the parties that the court is considering a stay pending a final decision in the appeal of a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit over whether a particular market situation (PMS) existed in South Korea for the subject merchandise during the 2015-16 review period (see 2105140028).
Kingtom Aluminio SRL, a Dominican Republic aluminum extrusion company, is under Enforce and Protect Act investigation by CBP over suspected antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, CBP said in a notice posted May 19. The Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee, represented by Robert DeFrancesco of Wiley, filed the allegation against the company. Kingtom is already involved in other EAPA cases (see 2104280032), some of which are being litigated over at the Court of International Trade (see 2105180055).
The Federal Register notice announcing an antidumping duty investigation on walk-behind lawn mowers was sufficient notification to a Chinese exporter, and Commerce’s failure to otherwise notify the exporter of the investigation did not violate the exporter’s due process rights, the agency said in an issues and decision memorandum issued May 14 alongside its final determination in the investigation.
A case challenging an Enforce and Protect Act determination from aluminum extrusion importer Hialeah Aluminum Supply (see 2104300056)]) was consolidated with a similar case from Global Aluminum Distributor (see 2104280049), according to a May 17 order from the Court of International Trade. Both Hialeah and Global Aluminum argue that CBP's process of determining that the exporters evaded antidumping duties on aluminum extrusions from China violated their Fifth Amendment due process rights and the agency's own regulations.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 19 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Court of International Trade ruled that a shipment of 443 bales of secondhand clothing imported by DIS Vintage should be classified as “commingled goods” and subject to the “highest rate of duty for any part thereof,” siding with the government in a May 17 opinion. Judge Timothy Reif, after a government analysis of 41 samples of the subject merchandise, determined that nine weren't classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 6309 as “worn clothing and other worn articles” since they had no visible signs of appreciable wear.
Steel exporter SeAH Steel Corporation along with consolidated plaintiff Husteel Co., Nexteel Co., AJU Besteel and Iljin Steel Corporation, argued against a government motion in the Court of International Trade to stay proceedings in an antidumping duty case until the Federal Circuit rules on a similar question in a separate case. In a May 17 joint opposition brief, the plaintiffs said that the Department of Justice failed to make a strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits of the Federal Circuit case, doesn't argue that it would be "irreparably injured" without a stay, and doesn't consider that there is a fair chance the plaintiffs would be injured by the stay.