The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 26 - July 2:
A Chinese garlic exporter appealed the dismissal of its racketeering lawsuit against its Chinese competitors and their U.S. representatives. Harmoni International says a U.S. law firm, a New Mexico garlic farmer and others involved in the garlic trade with China are conspiring to fraudulently obtain lower antidumping duty rates while inflating Harmoni’s (see 1603100018). Though charges of racketeering were dismissed in Los Angeles federal court in November, the District Court recently allowed that part of the case to proceed to the Ninth Circuit, where Harmoni filed its appeal on June 29.
The Timken Company filed a petition on June 27 with the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission, asking for new antidumping duties on tapered roller bearings from South Korea. Commerce will now decide whether to begin an AD duty investigation on tapered roller bearings from South Korea. Duties would come on top of an existing AD duty order on tapered roller bearings from China.
The Court of International Trade is proposing changes (here) to its rules that would eliminate its controversial “Reserve Calendar” and set time limits on CBP’s submission of entry documentation in cases challenging denied protests. Amendments to CIT Rule 83 (here) would replace the Reserve Calendar, where cases may remain indefinitely in 18-month increments, with a new “Customs Case Management Calendar.” There, cases would only be able to remain for four years without action before they are dismissed. Other changes would affect CIT Rules 41 (here), 56.2 (here), 73.1 (here), 82 (here), 83 (here), 84 (here) and 85 (here), Forms 9 (here) and 24 (here), and Specific Instructions for Form 24 (here). Comments are due July 26.
The U.S. failed to prove that Guatemala violated its labor obligations under its multilateral free trade agreement with the U.S., a Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) panel ruled in the first labor case the U.S. brought under an FTA. While the U.S. proved that at eight worksites and with respect to 74 workers, Guatemala didn’t effectively enforce its labor laws by “failing to secure compliance” with court orders, the U.S. didn’t prove “sufficient failures to adequately conduct labor inspections to constitute a course of action or inaction” under the agreement’s labor obligations, the ruling says. In April 2008, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan worker organizations filed a public submission under the CAFTA-DR alleging that the Guatemalan government had violated its CAFTA-DR labor commitments by failing to effectively enforce its labor laws. Akin Gump, which represented the Guatemalan government, in a press release (here) said the ruling clarifies the legal standard to demonstrate a violation under the CAFTA-DR labor chapter.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 19-25:
AUSTIN, Texas -- CBP remains committed to implementing drawback changes in ACE by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act’s February 2018 deadline, but contentious issues remain as the agency considers concurrent regulatory changes to its drawback program that are required by the same date, government officials and industry representatives said at the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) annual conference on June 21.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 12-18:
Shareholder efforts to force an array of communications and media companies to make their lobbying and political campaigning efforts more public again failed in a series of proxy votes in recent weeks. Corporate governance experts say that despite repeated losses in recent years, such proposals likely will return, seeking broad shareholder support in the 2018 proxy season and beyond. "I don't see anything changing anytime soon,” said corporate governance lawyer Yafit Cohn of Simpson Thacher.
Shareholder efforts to force an array of communications and media companies to make their lobbying and political campaigning efforts more public again failed in a series of proxy votes in recent weeks. Corporate governance experts say that despite repeated losses in recent years, such proposals likely will return, seeking broad shareholder support in the 2018 proxy season and beyond. "I don't see anything changing anytime soon,” said corporate governance lawyer Yafit Cohn of Simpson Thacher.