“Good cause exists” for the U.S. Court of International Trade to grant Section 301 sample-case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products leave to reply to DOJ’s opposition to the preliminary injunction plaintiffs seek to freeze liquidation of unliquidated customs entries from China with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure, said Akin Gump’s motion (in Pacer) filed Thursday in docket 1:21-cv-52.
The Customs Surety Coalition called foul on a CBP attempt to collect unpaid antidumping duties eight years after the relevant entries liquidated, saying the “devastating impact on the surety program is obvious,” in a May 20 amicus brief filed in the Court of International Trade. Stepping in to help defend Aegis Security Insurance Co., the coalition argued that if the court were to accept CBP's position, the statute of limitations on duty payments would be eliminated, allowing the agency to use the law to "absurd ends." CSC was joined by its four coalition members -- the International Trade Surety Association, the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Inc., the Surety & Fidelity Association of American and the Customs Surety Association -- in its brief (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT #20-03628).
People or companies that are debarred or suspended by CBP aren't allowed to use a continuous bond for customs activity "unless a continuous bond is the only form of bond acceptable for that activity," CBP said in a May 21 CSMS message. Effective May 11, Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller "revoked the authority of all CBP officials to permit a person who is suspended or debarred by CBP to meet the bond requirements of any customs activity using a continuous bond, for the duration of that person’s suspension or debarment," CBP said. For entities debarred or suspend by other federal agencies, "the Office of Trade, Trade Policy and Programs, is authorized to evaluate and decide, either categorically or on a case-by-case basis," whether the use of a continuous bond is allowed.
“Good cause exists” for the Court of International Trade to grant Section 301 sample-case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products leave to reply to DOJ’s opposition to the preliminary injunction plaintiffs seek to freeze liquidation of unliquidated customs entries from China with lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure, said Akin Gump’s motion filed late May 20 in docket 1:21-cv-52.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer Strategic Import Supply wants a reconsideration of its case in the Court of International Trade, seeing that CBP granted a nearly identical protest to the one that was the subject of dismissal in an April 21 opinion. In a May 19 motion for reconsideration, Strategic Import Supply argued that CBP's recent decision to assess a lower countervailing duty rate on imports of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China is new evidence that the underlying protests in the CIT case were timely filed and that CBP acted in an "arbitrary and capricious manner" (Acquisition 362, LLC v. United States, CIT #20-03762).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A group of surety trade associations' attempt to file an amicus curiae brief in support of American Home Assurance Company in the Court of International Trade hit a snag when the Department of Justice opposed their filing. Though DOJ said it does not normally oppose such requests as an amicus brief, it nonetheless moved to block the brief, arguing it was untimely filed, in a May 19 memo. The surety groups consist of the Customs Surety Association, the Customs Surety Coalition, the International Trade Surety Association, the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, Inc. and the Surety & Fidelity Association of America.
The Court of International Trade denied a stay of court proceedings in one antidumping challenge brought by South Korean steel exporter SeAH Steel, but it has yet to rule on a motion to stay in separate challenge by the same company. In a May 18 order, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves shut the door on the possibility of a stay in a case challenging the final results of the 2016-17 antidumping duty administrative review of certain oil country tubular goods from South Korea, but did not comment on a case challenging the 2017-18 administrative review of the same product. In the latter case, Choe-Groves filed a letter last week informing the parties that the court is considering a stay pending a final decision in the appeal of a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit over whether a particular market situation (PMS) existed in South Korea for the subject merchandise during the 2015-16 review period (see 2105140028).
Judge Claire Kelly at the Court of International Trade probed the Commerce Department's process of determining whether surrogate country data is aberrational in antidumping cases, during May 19 oral arguments. In a case where she granted a motion for reconsideration following a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling on a nearly identical issue, Kelly questioned Commerce's lack of clear criteria and "know it when I see it" approach.