The Commerce Department correctly chose surrogate data in an antidumping duty administrative review on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam, DOJ said in an April 20 response brief at the Court of International Trade. DOJ asked the court to sustain the final results of the AD review, saying that the various challenges to the country selection, separate rate and use of adverse facts available should be rejected (Green Farms Seafood Joint Stock Company v. U.S., CIT # 22-00092).

DOJ said it recently discovered that it made inaccurate statements in a now-concluded case involving tobacco excise taxes for cigar wrappers, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an April 21 motion that it said samples of the goods relied on in the case were from from a specific entry when they were not, and that it has only identified the source of six of the nine samples considered by the court (New Image Global v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 19-2444).

The Court of International Trade upheld the Commerce Department's refusal to adjust its threshold for differentiating between types of pasta in its duty calculations in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. Respondent La Molisana had argued the agency's "breakpoint" of 12.5% protein content did not reflect the market reality, saying the true point separating premium from regular pasta was 13.5% protein content. In his April 24 opinion, Judge Richard Eaton said the company's evidence, while unrebutted, was not applicable industrywide, making it "unreliable and insufficient."

The Court of International Trade granted exporter Hyosung Heavy Industries Corp.'s request to dismiss its case against the Commerce Department's final results of the 2020-21 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large power transformers from South Korea. The exporter filed the suit on April 17, then moved to toss it under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i), which says the case can be voluntarily dismissed before the opposing party serves an answer. No reason was provided as to why Hyosung wanted to dismiss the case (Hyosung Heavy Industries Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00082).

Reconsideration of a Court of International Trade opinion on the origin of uninterruptable power supplies would amount to simple "do-over" and should be denied, DOJ said in an April 20 motion. Cyber Power failed to prove that a substantial transformation occurred for four models of its power supplies and one model of its surge voltage protector at trial, DOJ said, and reconsideration would only provide Cyber Power a chance to relitigate the case (Cyber Power Systems (USA) v. U.S., CIT # 20-00124).

There is "absolutely no substantive justification" to give the Commerce Department another 91 days to review NLMK Pennsylvania's Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusion requests, the company argued in an April 20 brief opposing the extension bid at the Court of International Trade (NLMK Pennsylvania v. United States, CIT # 21-00507).

The Commerce Department wrongly said there was ambiguity in the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China, the Court of International Trade ruled. Judge Mark Barnett, remanding Commerce's scope ruling, said the scope language and the (k)(1) sources confirm the "unambiguous" meaning of the orders' scope, which excludes two-ply panels imported from China to Vietnam.

The Commerce Department legally refused to adjust its model-match method related to coding for pasta's protein content in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy, the Court of International Trade ruled. Respondent La Molisana said the agency's "breakpoint" of 12.5% protein content did not reflect the market reality, offering evidence that showed the true point separating premium from regular pasta was 13.5% protein content. Judge Richard Eaton said the company's evidence, while unrebutted, was not applicable industry-wide, making it "unreliable and insufficient."

The two judicial vacancies at The Court of International Trade are unduly burdening the court, The Customs & International Trade Bar Association said in an April 20 letter to White House Counsel Stuart Delery. The letter urged President Joe Biden to quickly nominate judges for the two outstanding vacancies.

The Court of International Trade upheld parts and sent back parts of a countervailing duty case brought by Dalian Meisen Woodworking in a confidential opinion. In a letter to litigants, Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until April 27 to inform the court what should remain confidential. The trade court previously remanded the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available related to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, telling the agency it must "find a practical solution" to verify information from respondents' U.S. customers showing that they did not use the EBCP (see 2205230033) (Dalian Meisen Woodworking v. U.S., Slip Op. 23-57, CIT # 20-00110).