The Court of International Trade on April 17 said that after the Commerce Department decided to continue an antidumping duty investigation on Mexican tomatoes initially paused in 1996, it must use the original investigation period, 1995-96, and not the later period of 2018-19. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled that the statute and congressional intent are clear that when Commerce resumes a suspended AD investigation, it must stick with the original investigation period.
The Commerce Department has released the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on polyester textured yarn from India (A-533-885). Commerce continued its preliminary assignment of a zero percent AD rate for Reliance Industries Limited and its affiliate Alok Industries Limited for the period of review, Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022. Entries from Reliance/Alok during the review period will be liquidated without any assessment of AD, and future entries of subject merchandise exported by Reliance/Alok won't be subject to AD duty cash deposit requirements until further notice. The new zero percent AD cash deposit rate takes effect April 18, the date the final results are set to be published in the Federal Register.
The Commerce Department is beginning a new antidumping duty investigations on dioctyl terephthalate from Malaysia, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey, it said in a fact sheet April 16. The underlying petition was filed in March (see 2403280051). The International Trade Commission is scheduled to make its preliminary injury determinations by May 10. These AD investigations will continue only if the ITC finds injury. International Trade Today will provide more details upon publication of the initiation notices in the Federal Register.
Quierra Robey and her class members received unwanted spam telemarketing text messages from convenience store company Rebel Stores “without regard” to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act or for "individual privacy,” alleged Robey’s class action Monday (docket 5:24-cv-00787) in U.S. District Court for Central California in Riverside. The Hillsborough County, Florida, resident's lawsuit challenges all telemarketing text messages that were sent by Rebel Stores or on its behalf from around March 2020 through the date of preliminary approval of class certification, it said. The FTSA’s caller ID rules require that parties making telephonic sales calls transmit to the consumer’s caller ID service a phone number that’s capable of receiving phone calls in return, said the complaint. Unlike claims for damages for text message solicitations that the called party doesn’t consent to receive, claims for violations of the caller ID rules are “equally applicable” to all phone sales calls, text messages or voicemails, “regardless of whether they are solicited or consented to” or they are “traditional, automated, or recorded,” it said. Rebel Stores transmitted at least four numbers to Robey’s caller ID service, but her counsel was unable to connect with the company when dialing those numbers, said the complaint. The plaintiff never provided Rebel Stores with her prior express written consent or any other party acting on its behalf to authorize the subject telemarketing text messages, it said. In an attempt to opt out of any further telemarketing text communications with Rebel Stores, Robey on various occasions texted the company the word “stop,” but it ignored her requests and continued to text promotional telemarketing messages despite her clear revocation of any alleged prior consent, it said. The defendant’s failure to honor opt-out instructions is “indicative” of its failure to maintain written policies and procedures regarding its text messaging marketing, provide proper training to its telemarketing personnel and maintain an internal do not call list, it said. To the extent that Rebel Stores outsourced its telemarketing spam text messaging campaigns, it’s nonetheless liable for texts that violate the TCPA or FTSA, said the complaint. It’s liable for third-party actions “if it took steps to cause the telemarketing texts to be made,” or if the telemarketing texts were made under its “actual authority, apparent authority and/or ratification,” it said.
The Court of International Trade in an opinion made public April 16 sent back the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against exporter Garg Tube Exports in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on welded carbon steel standard pipes and tubes from India.
The 62 federal government defendants in the social media censorship case brought by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his two co-defendants are appealing to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a Feb. 14 memorandum ruling granting the Kennedy plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction (see 2402150001), said their notice of appeal Friday (docket 3:23-cv-00381). The injunction -- which U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty for Western Louisiana in Monroe stayed until the 11th day after the U.S. Supreme Court hands down a decision in Murthy v. Missouri (docket 23-411) -- bars the defendants from coercing social media companies to moderate their content. The Kennedy plaintiffs modeled their case after Murthy.
The Commerce Department granted Samsung up to $6.4 billion in federal funding to increase chip manufacturing in central Texas, the department announced Monday. The two sides signed a “non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms” for direct funding under the Chips and Science Act (see 2208090062). Samsung expects to invest more than $40 billion and create more than 20,000 jobs in the region related to semiconductor production. The investment will “cement central Texas’s role as a state-of-the-art semiconductor ecosystem,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. Samsung will manufacture “important components to our most advanced technologies, from artificial intelligence to high-performance computing and 5G communications,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. Samsung plans to build a “comprehensive advanced manufacturing ecosystem, ranging from leading-edge logic to advanced packaging to R&D” in Taylor, Texas, near Austin. The company plans to expand facilities in Austin to “support the production of leading fully depleted silicon-on-insulator process technologies for critical U.S. industries, including aerospace, defense, and automotive.” Strengthening local semiconductor production will position the U.S. as “a global semiconductor manufacturing destination,” said Kye Hyun Kyung, CEO of Samsung’s Device Solutions Division.
Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp. will submit a delisting petition with the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to get off the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, the company told the Court of International Trade in an April 12 status report (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register April 15 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices April 15 on AD/CVD proceedings: