In Citizen Watch Co. of America, Inc. v. U.S, the Court of International Trade ruled that certain imported watch boxes entered separately should be classified as “other packing containers” under HTS 4819.50.40 (duty-free), instead of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s classification as “jewelry boxes and similar containers” under HTS 4202.99.90 (20% duty).
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on August 13, 2010, granted a request by opponents of genetically engineered (GE) crops to vacate the deregulation of genetically engineered sugar beets by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, as the agency did not conduct an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) beforehand. The court denied the petitioner’s request for a permanent injunction.
The Court of International Trade (CIT) and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) made the following antidumping and countervailing duty law determinations in the first half of August 2010.
On August 9, 2010, a federal jury in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii found Noshir S. Gowadia, of Maui, guilty of five criminal offenses relating to his design for China of a low signature cruise missile exhaust system capable of rendering a Chinese cruise missile resistant to detection by infrared missiles. The jury also convicted Gowadia of illegally communicating classified information on three other occasions and unlawfully exporting technical information on those three occasions, illegally retaining defense information, and filing false tax returns for the years 2001 and 2002. The jury acquitted Gowadia of three other offenses alleging illegal communication of information to China. Gowadia faces life imprisonment on two counts, and 5 to 10 years for other counts.
In Aromont USA Inc., v. U.S., the Court of International Trade determined that certain food flavorings (derived from veal, chicken, duck, lamb, beef, fish, lobster, mushroom or vegetable stock), imported from France should not be classified as soups or broths, but instead as unfinished food preparations, principally used as ingredients in gravies, sauces, and salad dressings.
Reversing prior limitations on the ability of food producers to challenge rulings of the Agricultural Marketing Service, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (CADC) has allowed California almond producers to proceed with a challenge to an AMS rule on bacteria reduction requirements that largely ended the marketing of domestically produced raw almonds.
The Court of International Trade rejected the International Trade Administration’s approach to combined antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) tariffs on imports from non-market economies, and ordered the agency to forego imposing CVDs on off-the-road (OTR) tires from China. The ruling is likely to mean lower combined rates in the future for diverse imports from China and other non-market economy countries1 that are subject to both types of trade remedy tariffs.
The Court of International Trade (CIT) and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) made the following antidumping and countervailing duty law determinations in the second half of July 2010.
In Ford Motor Company, v. U.S. et al., the Court of International Trade denied Ford’s request to liquidate and refund duties paid on ten reconciliation entries of imported Jaguar brand vehicles. The CIT dismissed all of Ford’s claims on grounds ranging from lack of case or controversy, lack of jurisdiction, mootness, or in some instances, at the Court’s discretion.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (CADC) has ruled that manufacturers may appeal Environmental Protection Agency “misbranding” actions in district court when the agency’s actions effectively threaten to cancel a product’s registration without due hearings and argument.