A Court of International Trade decision on the classification of net wraps used for bailing hay was "fatally inconsistent" with the Federal Circuit's controlling precedent on the tariff definition of a part, RKW Klerks argued in a May 7 brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (RKW Klerks v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1210).

The Commerce Department reasonably found that it doesn't need to incorporate offsets for the costs of complying with Germany's Electricity and Energy Tax Acts in countervailing duty rate calculations for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen, the Court of International Trade said. Ruling on Commerce's remand results in a case on the CVD investigation into forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany, Judge Claire Kelly also remanded the agency's finding of de jure specificity for Germany's KAV program. The judge said Commerce failed to explain how the criteria for the program are economic in nature and horizontal in application.

The Court of International Trade in a confidential opinion upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. In a letter to litigants, Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until May 12 to review the confidential information in the opinion and respond.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government's motion for leave to correct parts of two statements it made in a now-concluded case on tobacco excise taxes for cigar wrappers. The U.S. said samples of the goods relied on in the case were taken from a specific entry when they were not, adding that it has identified the source of six of the nine samples considered by the court. While importer and appellant New Image Global never raised the source of the samples as a concern, the company filed two related complaints at the Court of International Trade alleging for the first time that the lab reports were false and unreliable (see 2210310062). As a result, the U.S. asked the court for leave to withdraw the two statements that inaccurately describe the entries "out of a deep commitment to transparency and candor" (see 2304240043). The court granted the motion without prejudice to further proceedings before CIT (New Image Global v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 19-2444).

The Court of International Trade on April 27 upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case involving the 2018 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on utility scale wind towers from Vietnam. The Wind Tower Trade Coalition failed to convince the court that CS Wind Vietnam manipulated its rate in the review by redesigning its operations or that Commerce failed to correctly investigate the source of steel plate used in the towers.

The Court of International Trade determined May 9 that Commerce Department reasonably found it does not need to incorporate offsets for the costs of complying with Germany's Electricity and Energy Tax Acts into countervailing duty rate calculations for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen. Ruling on Commerce's remand results in a case on the CVD investigation into forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany, Judge Claire Kelly also remanded the agency's finding of de jure specificity for Germany's KAV program. The judge said Commerce failed to explain how the criteria for the program are economic in nature and horizontal in application.

The Court of International Trade granted importer Sonos' bid to voluntarily dismiss its case seeking Section 301 refunds on imports of wireless speakers and audio components. Sonos claimed that its imports were granted exclusions to the China tariffs and CBP failed to refund the duties, which totalled over $229,000 (see 2212120056). Erik Smithweiss, counsel for Sonos, said the matter was resolved administratively (Sonos v. United States, CIT # 22-00337).

The Commerce Department applied a more lenient standard to antidumping duty petitioner Nucor Tubular Products by accepting a correction to a ministerial error that was raised only after the final results in the 2018-19 administrative review of the AD order on heavy walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes from Mexico was issued, respondent Maquilacero argued in comments to the Court of International Trade on Commerce's remand results accepting the correction (Nucor Tubular Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00543).

The Court of International Trade should push back the end of discovery until well after required disclosures in a fraud and evasion penalty case, defendant Zhe Liu said in a May 5 motion. Liu said that currently the end of discovery is set for May 15 but that initial disclosures will not be completed until after the discovery deadline, meaning that Liu would be unable to identify any individuals known to CBP that have information possibly relevant to his defense (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).

The Commerce Department correctly treated expenses from suspended production lines as general and accounting costs during an antidumping duty review on welded line pipe from South Korea, DOJ said in its May 5 remand comments at the Court of International Trade. The losses are attributable to the general operations of the company because when lines are shut down for an extended period, no products are produced, which could outweigh the cost of maintaining those lines, DOJ said (Nexteel Co. v. U.S., CIT # 20-03898).