The U.S. filed a consent motion for 21 more days to file a motion to dismiss a case from International Rights Advocates seeking to compel DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller to respond to allegations that cocoa imports from Cote d'Ivore were made with forced labor. If granted, the motion to dismiss would be due Nov. 6 (International Rights Advocates v. Mayorkas, CIT # 23-00165).

The use of adverse facts in an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China, and the resulting recalculation of rates for separate rate companies, were unlawful and inconsistent with the facts, a group of separate rate respondents led by Jiangsu Guyu International Trading (Jiangsu) said in their Oct. 5 remand comments to the Court of International Trade. Commerce deviated from its established practice when it assigned a separate rate to Jinlong and so it should similarly deviate in recalculating the average rate assigned to the non-individually reviewed companies, Jiangsu said (American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring v. U.S., CIT # 21-00595)

Commerce has wide discretion to change how it defines how a subsidy is specific in countervailing duty cases, countervailing duty petitioners led by Ellwood City Forge Co. said in Oct. 6 remand comments at the Court of International Trade that argued in favor of Commerce's continued finding in a CVD investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks that Germany's KAV program was de jure specific (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).

The Commerce Department made no changes to the final results of the 2019 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on corrosion-resistant steel goods from South Korea, in its Oct. 5 remand results. Commerce said that, in accordance with the court's July remand order (see 2307100028), it further explained its decision-making process for finding that three debt-to-equity restructurings provided a countervailable benefit, that a benefit passed to the new ownership, and that the uncreditworthy benchmark rate and unequityworthy discount rate were correctly calculated and applied (KG Dongbu Steel Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00047).

Importer Spirit Aerosystems' reading of the statute pertaining to its drawback claim for unused substitution drawback would lead to "unpredictable and often absurd results," the U.S. said in an Oct. 6 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Spirit's argument that CBP's implementation of the statute "misconstrues basic tariff terms, renders entire sections" of the law "inoperative, and requires the omission of certain words from the drawback statute," the government claimed (Spirit Aerosystems v. United States, CIT # 20-00094).

The Court of International Trade in part granted importer Southern Cross Seafoods' motion to supplement the administrative record in a case on the National Marine Fisheries Service's rejection of the company's application for preapproval to import Chilean sea bass. Judge Timothy Reif said the U.S. needs to explain its position regarding Southern Cross' motion requesting information showing how the NMFS obtained outside legal opinions included in the administrative record and information identifying who authored one of the legal opinions titled. Reif also rejected Southern Cross' motion seeking five other categories of documents, finding either that the U.S. offered the requested documents or that the U.S. did not leave them off in bad faith.

The Court of International Trade in an Oct. 4 order granted a consent motion to remove antidumping duty respondent Saffron Living Co. from a case on the AD investigation on mattresses from Thailand. Per the motion to remove, Saffron said it withdrew from participation in the underlying AD investigation and "has thus concluded that continued participation in this appeal is no longer in its commercial interests" (Brooklyn Bedding. et al. v. United States, CIT # 21-00285).

The Commerce Department made a host of errors in its antidumping duty calculations in an administrative review on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Mexico, including the improper collapsing of pipemaker Maquilacero and auto-parts manufacturer Tecnicas de Fluidos (TEFLU), the two companies argued in a Sept. 28 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade (Maquilacero v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00091).

Chinese printer cartridge maker Ninestar Corp. has until Nov. 7 to reply to the U.S. motion to dismiss Ninestar’s suit against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, the Court of International Trade said Oct. 4. Judge Gary Katzmann said the reply can include a response regarding the company's motion for a preliminary injunction (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).

The Court of International Trade issued a confidential opinion on Oct. 5 in a case from importer Southern Cross Seafoods pertaining to a U.S. move to ban imports of Patagonian toothish, referred to as Chilean sea bass, from the South Georgia fishery in the Atlantic Ocean. Per a letter to the litigants, Judge Timothy Reif gave the parties until Oct. 10 to review any potentially confidential information. The U.S. filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, which has been fully briefed, indicating that the opinion addresses this question, though the docket doesn't indicate which way the judge ruled (Southern Cross Seafoods v. United States, CIT # 22-00299).