DOJ joined a motion to dismiss a countervailing duty case originally filed by CVD petitioner Dextar Wheels arguing that the Court of International Trade cannot order the Commerce Department to correct something it did not do in the first place. Filing its own motion to dismiss on March 15, DOJ said that the plaintiff, steel wheel importer Rimco, failed to make a claim on which relief can be granted since Commerce did not even establish an all-others rate in a CVD review -- precisely what Rimco is challenging (Rimco v. United States, CIT #21-00588).
Victoria's Secret and One Step Up filed 19 complaints at the Court of International Trade alleging that CBP had misclassified women's garments over a series of entries between 2002 and 2008. The 13 complaints (in Pacer) by Victoria's Secret and six by One Step Up filed on March 12 ask CIT to direct CBP to reliquidate the entries and refund the excess duties collected, with interest.
The Court of International Trade should disregard DOJ's motion to dismiss Canadian exporter J.D. Irving's challenge to antidumping duty cash deposit instructions since an already initiated USMCA panel would not be able to apply the proper remedy, the exporter said in a March 14 reply brief. Though the USMCA panel is reviewing the same legal issue raised at CIT, the relief available differs in that the USMCA panels do not have the power to issue an injunction, J.D. Irving said (J.D. Irving Limited v. United States, CIT #21-00641).
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Importer Root Sciences was denied on March 15 its motion for reconsideration of a Court of International Trade ruling that CBP's seizure of Root's imports precluded a deemed exclusion, stripping the court of jurisdiction over the case. Judge Gary Katzmann said that because the reconsideration motion "amounts to nothing more than a disagreement with the court’s reasoning on matters fully litigated, devoid of showing manifest error, it is insufficient to warrant reconsideration and is denied."
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 7-13:
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
A nitrogen oxide sensor probe for diesel engines should be classified as an instrument of chemical analysis under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9027, rather than an instrument of measurement under heading 9026, DOJ said in a brief filed March 8 at the Court of International Trade. DOJ argued that the probe's function falls within the definition of "chemical analysis" and that the sensor itself includes design features that meet plain language definitions of chemical analysis.
The Commerce Department's rejection of three U.S. chloropicrin producers' filing in an antidumping duty sunset review -- which resulted in the revocation of the nearly 40-year-old order on chloropicrin from China -- was a "marked abuse of discretion" given that the producers' lawyer was impaired with "medical and technical issues," plaintiff-appellants, led by Trinity Manufacturing, said in a March 14 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Trinity Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1329).
The International Trade Commission initiated a Section 337 investigation March 9 into barcode scanners and related devices with scanning capabilities (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1307). The investigation follows a Feb. 7 complaint (amended Feb. 25) by Zebra Technologies and Symbol Technologies (see 2202140017), alleging that Honeywell and its subsidiary Hand Held Products are importing barcode scanners, computers with barcode scanning capabilities, and scan engines that infringe on one of Zebra's and two of Symbol's patents. The complainants are seeking a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders.