Hemp wraps for use with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures are classifiable as "other" vegetable products, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The ruling came in response to an internal advice request, originally initiated over imports of wraps by Crown Distributing. The wraps were described by the requester as lacking tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and were intended for use only with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures.
Country of origin cases
The Commerce Department made no changes its margin calculations for antidumping respondent Zinus Indonesia in its June 9 remand results an a case involving an administrative review on mattresses from India, with the agency saying that it fully addressed the Court of International Trade's remand order in the case and was not required to change its calculations if it fully explained its choices (PT. Zinus Global Indonesia v. U.S., CIT # 21-00277).
Trailer wheels manufactured by Asia Wheel in Thailand were incorrectly ruled to be within the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain steel wheels from China, U.S. importers Trailstar and TexTrail said in a pair of June 9 complaints at the Court of International Trade. Both complaints asked the court to find Commerce's final scope ruling illegal and to remand the ruling to the department (Trailstar v. U.S., CIT # 23-00097, and Textrail v. U.S., CIT # 23-00099).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Tire exporter Pirelli's claim that the labelling of its board members as "independent" under Italian law requires the Commerce Department to find that the company rebutted the presumption of Chinese state control "misses the mark," the Court of International Trade ruled on June 9. Again upholding the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the question for Commerce is whether Pirelli rebutted the presumption of Chinese state control, not control by another company, which is what the "independent" label measures.
The Commerce Department unlawfully expanded the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on magnesia alumina carbon bricks (MAC bricks) from China in a covered merchandise inquiry during an Enforce and Protect Act remand investigation regarding Fedmet's importation of MAC bricks, Fedmet argued in a June 12 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Fedmet Resource Corporation v. U.S., CIT # 23-00117).
The Court of International Trade correctly dismissed appellant Glob Energy's claims for lack of jurisdiction in an Enforce and Protect Act case in which CBP said the company and others were transshipping Chinese xanthan gum through India to avoid antidumping duties, the U.S. said in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. CBP liquidated Glob's entries and the company did not appeal the liquidations "through channels that would permit the trial court to exercise jurisdiction over those entries," and as a result, the liquidations become final and unreviewable, the brief said (All One God Faith v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).
The Commerce Department erred in finding that exporter Asia Wheel Co.'s trailer wheels are within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China, the company said in a June 8 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Asia Wheel Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00096).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
DOJ is looking to collect over $10 million in unpaid duties and penalties from Florida businessman Zhe "John" Liu and one of his companies, AB MA Distribution, alleging Liu and AB MA transshipped steel wire hangers through India and Thailand to avoid the payment of antidumping and other duties on steel wire hangers from China, according to a June 7 complaint at the Court of International Trade (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu and AB MA Distribution Corporation, CIT # 23-00116).