The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 15 sent back down a lower court decision on the tariff classification of lockable doorknobs, finding the Court of International Trade improperly found them only classifiable as locks when it should have considered them as composite goods with characteristics of both locks and doorknobs.
Court of International Trade
The United States Court of International Trade is a federal court which has national jurisdiction over civil actions regarding the customs and international trade laws of the United States. The Court was established under Article III of the Constitution by the Customs Courts Act of 1980. The Court consists of nine judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is located in New York City. The Court has jurisdiction throughout the United States and has exclusive jurisdictional authority to decide civil action pertaining to international trade against the United States or entities representing the United States.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 11-17:
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 13 rejected a Commerce Department scope ruling that found Star Pipe’s ductile iron flanges subject to antidumping duties on non-malleable pipe fittings from China, ordering the agency to reconsider its findings in light of evidence that the products were not intended to be covered by the AD duty order.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 4-10:
The Court of International Trade recently overturned a Commerce Department scope ruling on whether lock washers found in assemblies are subject to antidumping duties. Commerce had in 2017 found lock washers incorporated into MacLean Power’s pole line hardware were subject to the AD duty order on helical spring lock washers from China, but CIT held that Commerce applied the scope too broadly, and that lock washers imported as part of distinct assembled products aren’t covered by AD duties.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 4 ruled against an importer in the third in a long-running series of cases on the tariff classification of Teva sandals. That importer, Deckers Corporation, again said its shoes should be classified as sports footwear, rather than as footwear with open toes or open heels, despite two earlier decisions, including by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, that found to the contrary. CIT ruled that Deckers did not raise any new arguments that could override the appeals court’s binding precedent that sports footwear must have an enclosed upper.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 28 - Feb. 3:
Court of International Trade Judge Delissa Ridgway is now listed on the CIT website as an inactive senior judge. The change in status occurred on Jan. 31 and creates a new vacancy, Clerk of the Court Mario Toscano said in an email. Judge Kenton Musgrave also recently became an inactive senior judge, though that vacancy was filled when he previously became a senior judge.
The Commerce Department will decrease antidumping duty cash deposit rates in effect for three exporters of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from China (A-570-979), implementing a recent Court of International Trade decision that ordered Commerce to recalculate rates set in an administrative review completed in 2016, it said. As a result of its recalculation, AD duty cash deposit rates for BYD (Shangluo) Industrial Co., Ltd., Dongguan Sunworth Solar Energy Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Glory Industries Co., Ltd., will fall to 3.96% (from 8.52%). The new rate will apply to subject merchandise entered on or after Dec. 23, 2018.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 21-27: