The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit remanded in part and sustained in part the Court of International Trade's opinion in a Nov. 3 decision amid a customs battle over bicycle seats. The Federal Circuit found the trade court erred in approving CBP's use of "bypass entries" to show the established classification treatment of the bicycle seat imports. However, the three-judge panel at the Federal Circuit upheld CIT's finding of no de facto established and uniform practice. The plaintiff, Kent International, had argued that such a practice existed based on CBP's liquidation of its entries, and the entries of third parties, under its preferred Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading.

Ball bearings importer Wermex filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade Oct. 29, contesting CBP's reliquidation of its entries after being erroneously covered by injunctions, when the entries should have been deemed liquidated or been liquidated in line with the final results of the relevant AD review.

The Commerce Department again dropped its particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test in an antidumping review, despite continuing to find that a PMS existed during the review. Dropping the adjustment in Oct. 29 remand results at the Court of International Trade, Commerce said it fulfilled the terms of its voluntary remand request in the case, explaining that the court ruled in other cases that the agency is not allowed to make such an adjustment when finding normal value (NEXTEEL Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #20-03868).

Three Court of International Trade cases filed by Janssen Ortho should be assigned to Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves and stayed, Janssen argued in an Oct. 27 brief at CIT now that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued its opinion in the appeal. In April, the Federal Circuit upheld Choe-Groves' decision that the active pharmaceutical ingredient imported by Janssen in one of its HIV medications was eligible for duty-free treatment (see 2104260034). The API was darunavir ethanolate (Janseen Ortho LLC v. United States, CIT #13-00052, #14-00094, #14-00198).

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 29 granted the Commerce Department's request for a voluntary remand in an antidumping duty case, so the agency can review whether it was appropriate to rely on supplemental questionnaire responses, seeing as it couldn't conduct an on-site verification. The court found that Commerce gave enough evidence of "substantial and legitimate" concerns to remand the case and further explore whether the "novel legal approach that Commerce took during the [COVID-19] pandemic" can be properly supported. The court also noted that on-site verification may now be possible given eased travel restrictions (Ellwood City Forge Company, et al. v. United States, CIT #21-00007).

CBP properly found that pencil importer Royal Brush Manufacturing evaded antidumping duties on cased pencils from China, the Court of International Trade held in an Oct. 29 opinion. Chief Judge Mark Barnett upheld CBP's determination after initially remanding the case for not having provided adequate public summaries of business confidential information. Finding that on remand, CBP cleared this hurdle and that the summaries did not violate Royal Brush's due process rights, Barnett upheld the evasion finding.

The Court of International Trade ordered an in-person oral argument to take place on Nov. 4 to settle a matter in which the Department of Justice alleged that the plaintiff failed to obtain its consent before filing for a statutory injunction against the liquidation of its entries. In a brief on the injunction motion, DOJ said that counsel for Cheng Shin Rubber -- led by Jeffrey Winton of Winton & Chapman -- completely misrepresented its position, declaring that it had the government's consent for the injunction, when it didn't (see 2110250052).

The Court of International Trade issued a confidential opinion on Oct. 29 in a case over an antidumping duty evasion finding from CBP, sustaining in part and remanding in part Customs' final decision. In the Enforce and Protect Act investigation, Diamond Tools Technology was found to have evaded the AD order on diamond sawblades from China. The company then challenged this decision at CIT, arguing against CBP's retroactive application of the Commerce Department's anticurmvention determination to include diamond sawblades from Thailand in the AD order on the sawblades from China, among other things. Diamond Tools also alleged due process violations against the EAPA process (Diamond Tools Technology LLC v. United States, CIT #20-00060).

Importer BASF Corporation filed five complaints at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 28, challenging CBP's tariff classification of three of its vitamins and supplements. For two of the three substances, BASF is seeking classification under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 2936.

Importer TCW Trends resumed litigation in its case filed in 2012 at the Court of International Trade over the rate of duty paid on its men's knit tops and pants imports. Filing a complaint on Oct. 29, TCW said that its tops and pants were made in a Qualifying Industrial Zone in Alexandria, Egypt, making the goods eligible for preferential duty-free treatment under General Note 3(a)(v) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The entries were liquidated under HTS subheading 6103.43.15 and 6105.20.20. Ultimately, CBP's finding that the merchandise didn't meet the duty-free eligibility requirements under the QIZ program was contrary to law, the complaint said (TCW Trends, Inc. v. United States, CIT #12-00166).