The U.S. said it has a "better right than" Southwest Airlines does to Customs Passenger Processing Fees paid by individual passengers that cancel their tickets and never receive a refund or fail to use a travel credit. Filing a reply brief at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 24, the government argued that this specific situation "results in an unfair enrichment rather than the return of the customs inspection fee to the customer" (Southwest Airlines Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00141).
A petitioner and an exporter responded Oct. 17 to the Commerce Department’s results on remand of a review of common alloy aluminum sheet from Turkey (see 2409060031), which saw the department mostly maintain its earlier positions (see 2405080048) (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT # 21-00616).
In a science-heavy motion for judgment filed Oct. 24, an importer of enriched isotope compounds said that the Commerce Department had, in a scope ruling, misunderstood the essential chemistry behind its products (Cambridge Isotope Laboratories v. U.S., CIT # 23-00080).
Exporter The Ancientree Co. failed to timely raise a ministerial error allegation regarding an adjustment to its U.S. price in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade held on Oct. 24. Judge Mark Barnett said that the Commerce Department's regulations required Ancientree to identify any ministerial errors present in the preliminary results and make all relevant arguments about them in its administrative case brief -- something the company failed to do.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
A syringe importer said Oct. 23 that, without an injunction on a new 100% tariff on needles from China, it must either “discontinue 95% of business or suffer non-recoupable damages.” In response, the U.S. said that it had enough money to absorb the duties -- for example, by cutting its CEO's pay (Retractable Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 24-00185).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 22 denied exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari's (Erdemir's) motion to consolidate three of its appeals, which all involve the sunset review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Turkey. Judge William Bryson said the court already has designated the cases as "companion cases," adding that "Erdemir has not shown compelling reasons to require all parties to file consolidated briefs" (Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #s 24-2242, -2243, -2249).
NEW YORK -- Three judges at the Court of International Trade offered tips to practitioners arguing before the court during an event at the court's judicial conference earlier this month. Judges Jennifer Choe-Groves, Claire Kelly and Gary Katzmann discussed tips for brief writing, oral argument and filing extension requests, laying out personal preferences and common areas where counsel goes wrong.
SAN DIEGO -- As brokers and their clients rely more and more on online methods and the cloud to conduct customs operations and everyday business, they should be aware that it’s practically inevitable that a cyberattack will one day hit them, panelists said at the Pacific Coast Council’s Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) last week.