Counterweights for mini-excavators are not parts for "backhoes" and should be excluded from Section 301 tariffs, manufacturer Norca argued in a March 29 motion at the Court of International Trade. Norca accused the government of obscuring and overcomplicating the distinction between the two equipment types (Norca Engineered Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00305).

Liquidation of imported picture frame moldings should have been suspended pending antidumping and countervailing duty administrative reviews, importer Larson-Juhl told the Court of International Trade in a March 30 complaint. The complaint contests CBP's denial of Larson-Juhl's protests concerning the liquidation and assessment of duties on nine entries subject to AD and CVD orders on wood mouldings and millwork products from China (Larson-Juhl US v. United States., CIT # 23-00032).

Court of International Trade can't issue a decision in a denied protest challenge based on a finding that can't determine the proper origin, Cyber Power Systems argued in a March 30 motion for reconsideration to CIT. Cyber Power asked the court for a partial retrial or rehearing of its Feb 27 ruling, in which CIT found that Cyber Power didn’t prove a substantial transformation occurred for four models of its uninterruptable power supplies and one model of its surge voltage protector (see 2302270064) (Cyber Power Systems v. U.S., CIT # 20-00124).

The statute of limitations in customs penalties runs from the date of entry, not from the date that the importer directed the violation to be committed, the Court of International Trade said in a March 31 decision that denied a motion to dismiss a fraud case against Florida businessman Zhe "John" Liu (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).

As filing day approaches, the calendar is marked with a big figurative red X, multiple alerts have been set and hours have been spent combing through documents to make sure the Commerce Department’s ACCESS system accepts the submission. But sometimes, despite all the preparation, something derails the process and the documents are turned in late. Suddenly, a routine part of the job has morphed into every lawyer’s nightmare -- a missed deadline.

A lawsuit over an expired comparability finding for New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries should be dismissed since the comparability findings “are not capable of repetition yet evading review,” the U.S. said March 29. There is no “reasonable expectation” that anyone will be subjected to the same findings, the government said. The challenge should be dismissed because the proceeding deals with whether certain fish can enter the U.S. during a discreet time period that has now passed, the U.S. said (Sea Shepherd New Zealand v. U.S., CIT # 20-00112).

The Commerce Department didn't adequately address questions raised by countervailing duty respondent Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. over the agency's use of certain benchmark information for the land program, the Court of International Trade ruled in a March 21 opinion made public March 29. Upholding parts and sending back parts of the 2016-17 administrative review of the CVD order on aluminum foil from China, Judge Timothy Reif said Commerce must reconsider its analysis of the contemporaneity of data it used for the land program benchmark.

CBP said that all wooden bedroom furniture imported by Aspects Furniture International was covered merchandise subject to an Enforce and Protect Act investigation despite a scope ruling from the Commerce Department finding that only two of six types of Aspects' furniture was covered merchandise. In remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade on March 27, CBP said the finding was justified due to adverse inferences levied against the importer (Aspects Furniture International v. U.S., CIT # 20-03824).

The consent of a foreign manufacturer does not overcome the Privacy Act of 1974's ban on disclosure of the confidential Enforce and Protect Act record, the U.S. said in response to importer Richmond International Forest Products' motion to compel. Richmond's motion does not qualify for disclosure since the company is requesting the entire confidential EAPA record, which has data submitted by parties other than the consenting foreign manufacturer, LB Wood, the government said (Richmond International Forest Products Inc. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00318).

The Court of International Trade on March 29 dismissed a lawsuit from cell phone case maker Otter Products seeking interest on customs duty overpayments, finding it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. Judge Claire Kelly held that the Administrative Procedure Act waiver of sovereign immunity only applies to interest on deposits linked with liquidated entries. As a result, there is no specific waiver of immunity related to Otter's claim for interest for its overpayments on tendered prior disclosures "under the no-interest rule," Kelly said.