Canada recently released a proposal to strengthen and update its foreign direct investment reviews, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Dec. 16. The proposal could lead to the “most significant update” to the country’s investment screening regime in more than a decade, the report said, and would establish a new filing requirement for investments in a range of “prescribed sectors,” including in cases in which the foreign investor would gain access to “sensitive assets, information, intellectual property or trade secrets.” The proposal also includes stronger penalties for noncompliance with the filing requirements and mitigation agreements.
CBP affirmed its July determination that importers Starille, Ltd., Nutrawave Co., Ltd., and Newtrend USA evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on glycine from China, according to a notice dated Nov. 30 and released Dec. 16.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
EPA’s proposed expansion of liability for compliance with hydrofluorocarbon import requirements to all parties that could perform the role of importer of record “blurs the roles” of parties to a transaction and adds confusion as to who is responsible with meeting EPA requirements, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments posted by EPA on Dec. 19.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 15 dismissed a case seeking the release of goods excluded over forced labor concerns without plaintiff Virtus Nutrition's proposed condition that CBP allow the goods to be reexported. Judge Timothy Reif said the temporary storage agreement under which the goods are currently being held does not give a basis to include the proposed stipulation. Virtus "retains recourse" to address its concern that CBP can seize the goods rather than allow their exportation, Reif said.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni for Southern New York signed an order Monday (docket 1:22-cv-08171) appointing the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio as lead plaintiffs in the Sept. 23 class action alleging violations of the Securities Act stemming from Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia. Caproni’s order also appointed Grant & Eisenhofer as lead counsel for the plaintiffs, and the Office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) as additional plaintiffs’ counsel. Yost publicized Caproni’s order in an announcement Wednesday. The class action names Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery and CEO David Zaslav and Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels as defendants, alleging they withheld negative information about WarnerMedia in the runup to the April 8 closing of the transaction that caused Warner Bros. Discovery shares to plummet 52.4% on the first day of trading “as the market became aware of the foregoing misrepresented and omitted facts.” Among the facts allegedly hidden from investors was that WarnerMedia overstated the number of subscribers to HBO Max by as many as 10 million, by counting as subscribers AT&T customers who had received bundled access to HBO Max but hadn't actually signed up for the service. Caproni’s order lifted the stay on the defendants’ time to answer the complaint. She ordered the parties to submit a joint proposed schedule by Dec. 21 for filing a consolidated amended complaint.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department’s recent preliminary determination that Southeast Asian solar cells and panels are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2212020064) left several questions unanswered, and lawyers for the Solar Energy Industries Association hope the agency will clarify these issues as the case proceeds to its final determinations, they said during a webinar Dec. 13.
As carmakers, battery companies and critical minerals supply chain players await news from the Treasury Department on the details of how vehicles and batteries will become eligible for electric vehicle tax credits, a major South Korean carmaker sounded the alarm that the new Inflation Reduction Act could make its planned Georgia plant unprofitable.