Saccharin Importer Pays $62.5 Million to Settle AD Duty Evasion Allegations, Avoids CIT Trial
An importer will pay $62.5 million to settle allegations of antidumping duty evasion, avoiding a jury trial that would have been the first at the Court of International Trade in about 20 years. Univar acted with negligence or gross negligence when it imported Chinese saccharin that had been transshipped through Taiwan to avoid a 329% antidumping duty, the Department of Justice said in an April 9 press release. The scheme cost the government about $36 million in lost AD duty revenue, DOJ said.
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A trial had been set to begin April 1 to determine whether Univar was negligent or grossly negligent, and liable for penalties under 19 USC 1592. But a series of court orders dated March 29 suspended the planned trial after CIT was notified Univar and DOJ had settled the case. CIT had just three days earlier ruled that only Univar’s liability for penalties, and not the penalty amount itself, would be decided at trial (see 1903280013).
Univar had contended that it was acting with reasonable care despite being caught unawares by the evasion scheme, visiting a saccharin production facility in Taiwan when it began the sourcing relationship and obtaining kosher certifications throughout the time it imported the saccharin that required rabbi visits (see 1811210026). The importer’s lawyer did not immediately comment.
But the government alleged that Univar had ignored several red flags that should have clued it in to the existence of the transshipment scheme, including skepticism from others in the saccharin industry and the failure to complete the rabbi visits as a result of purported floods and unsafe construction (see 1811210026). An ICE investigation subsequently determined that Univar’s supplier in Taiwan was not licensed to manufacture saccharin and operated out of a residential building. The government had sought $84 million in penalties.