The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 7-13:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Dec. 7-11 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
COVID-19's “unprecedented complications” are making it impossible for Customs and Border Protection to be served summonses and complaints by certified or registered mail from many of the thousands of plaintiffs in the Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade, said DOJ Wednesday in a motion (in Pacer) to adopt alternative procedures for service. Staff in CBP’s chief counsel’s office has “been working under maximum telework conditions,” and some mail “has been returned to the sender as undeliverable,” it said. To resolve the issue, DOJ’s international trade field office “agrees to accept service of these documents on behalf of CBP,” it said. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases,” it said. The attached list (in Pacer) of the 3,659 complaints filed through Tuesday spans 193 pages. All the complaints seek to get the Lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariff rulemakings vacated and the duties refunded.
The COVID-19 pandemic's “unprecedented complications” are making it impossible for CBP to be served summonses and complaints by certified or registered mail from many of the thousands of plaintiffs in the Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the Department of Justice said Dec. 9 in a motion to adopt alternative procedures for service. Staff in CBP’s chief counsel’s office “have been working under maximum telework conditions,” and some mail “has been returned to the sender as undeliverable,” it said. To resolve the issue, DOJ’s international trade field office “agrees to accept service of these documents on behalf of CBP,” it said. The motion “concerns overall case management of an unusually large volume of cases,” it said. DOJ included a list of 3,659 complaints, covering 193 pages, filed through Dec. 8. All the complaints seek to get the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariff rulemakings vacated and the duties refunded.
The Commerce Department will not publish its long-awaited proposed regulations on routed export transactions (see 2007150044) this year and is experiencing delays on other rules, including another set of export controls from the 2019 Wassenaar Arrangement, a Commerce official said. Hillary Hess, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s regulatory policy director, cited a combination of internal BIS delays and a backlog at the Federal Register for the slowdown.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 30 - Dec. 6:
Importers must file protests to preserve their rights to Section 301 tariff exclusions issued after an entry has already liquidated, the Department of Justice said in a motion to dismiss a pair of lawsuits that seek to have the exclusions applied past the protest deadline. CBP’s failure to apply the exclusions was a protestable event, even if the exclusions did not exist at the time, and the Court of International Trade’s jurisdictional scheme means CIT can’t hear cases wherein the importer skipped the protest scheme, DOJ said.
Most observers expect the U.S. Court of International Trade to pick the first-filed Section 301 complaint from HMTX Industries and Jasco Products as the lead case, and to stay the roughly 3,700 other actions while HMTX is litigated, blogged law firm Neville Peterson Thursday. “More than two months after the HMTX case was filed, however, there has been surprisingly little action,” other than “some minor skirmishing from some plaintiffs,” it said. Some litigants favor picking a complaint other than HMTX as the lead case or joining it with other actions that raise constitutional challenges to the Section 301 tariffs, it said. Still others argue HMTX should proceed on its own, since the CIT “will not consider constitutional issues if cases can be decided on non-constitutional grounds,” it said. DOJ’s deadline to file answers to the HMTX action “technically” has lapsed, it said: Though the CIT likely won’t hold DOJ “in default” for failing to respond, “the urgency for establishment of a case management plan is increasing.” Plaintiffs' attorneys on their own have established an “informal” steering committee to manage the case, it said, saying the committee “confers with some regularity.”
Most observers expect the U.S. Court of International Trade to pick the first-filed Section 301 complaint from HMTX Industries and Jasco Products as the lead case, and to stay the roughly 3,700 other actions while HMTX is litigated, blogged law firm Neville Peterson Thursday. “More than two months after the HMTX case was filed, however, there has been surprisingly little action,” other than “some minor skirmishing from some plaintiffs,” it said. Some litigants favor picking a complaint other than HMTX as the lead case or joining it with other actions that raise constitutional challenges to the Section 301 tariffs, it said. Still others argue HMTX should proceed on its own, since the CIT “will not consider constitutional issues if cases can be decided on non-constitutional grounds,” it said. DOJ’s deadline to file answers to the HMTX action “technically” has lapsed, it said: Though the CIT likely won’t hold DOJ “in default” for failing to respond, “the urgency for establishment of a case management plan is increasing.” Plaintiffs' attorneys on their own have established an “informal” steering committee to manage the case, it said, saying the committee “confers with some regularity.”
Most observers expect the U.S. Court of International Trade to pick the first-filed Section 301 complaint from HMTX Industries and Jasco Products as the lead case, and to stay the roughly 3,700 other actions while HMTX is litigated, blogged law firm Neville Peterson Thursday. “More than two months after the HMTX case was filed, however, there has been surprisingly little action,” other than “some minor skirmishing from some plaintiffs,” it said. Some litigants favor picking a complaint other than HMTX as the lead case or joining it with other actions that raise constitutional challenges to the Section 301 tariffs, it said. Still others argue HMTX should proceed on its own, since the CIT “will not consider constitutional issues if cases can be decided on non-constitutional grounds,” it said. DOJ’s deadline to file answers to the HMTX action “technically” has lapsed, it said: Though the CIT likely won’t hold DOJ “in default” for failing to respond, “the urgency for establishment of a case management plan is increasing.” Plaintiffs' attorneys on their own have established an “informal” steering committee to manage the case, it said, saying the committee “confers with some regularity.”