It’s “imperative” that a federal agency charged with enforcing the law “is structured to comport” with the Constitution, but the FTC “is not,” said Meta’s reply Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-03562) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in further support of its motion for an injunction to block the agency from modifying its 2020 privacy consent order with new restrictions on the company’s business activities (see 2311300039). The FTC’s “dual role” as prosecutor and judge “is flatly inconsistent with fundamental principles of due process,” said the reply, which Meta also filed in opposition to the commission’s Dec. 13 motion to dismiss (see 2312140008). The “conflict inherent” in the FTC’s dual role “has materialized in the form of a long history of biased administrative adjudication,” said Meta. That has resulted “in an unbroken, decades-long string of home-turf victories,” which "contrasts starkly" with the the FTC’s “struggling record in judicial actions before neutral adjudicators” in federal courts, it said. The “risk of unfairness” has already manifested itself in the form of the FTC’s “prejudgment of the facts and law,” it said. The “undisputed public record” is sufficient to establish Meta’s likelihood of success on the merits, warranting the grant of injunctive relief, said the company. The FTC’s prejudgment of the facts and the law in the proceeding against Meta “is the latest manifestation of bias,” it said. Based on 1,164 preliminary findings of fact, the FTC has made the formal legal determination that modification of the 2020 order is needed, it said. The agency “has challenged Meta to try to change its mind,” but due process “requires more, much more,” it said.
The Commerce Department will soon suspend liquidation and impose antidumping duty cash deposit requirements on imports of paper shopping bags from Cambodia, Colombia, Malaysia, Portugal, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam, and will also require AD cash deposits on paper shopping bags from China and India, it said in a fact sheet issued Dec. 28 announcing its preliminary determinations in the AD investigations. Commerce set AD rates ranging from 10.05% to 248.81% for Cambodian exporters; 12.81% to 135.77% for Chinese exporters; 9.48% to 56.14% for Colombian exporters; zero to 54.4% for Indian exporters; 3.1% to 112.22% for Malaysian exporters; zero to 60.26% for Taiwanese exporters; 26.32% to 47.56% for Turkish exporters; 51.25% to 92.34% for Vietnamese exporters; and at 11.33% for all Portuguese exporters.
The Commerce Department is amending antidumping duty rates it set in its preliminary determination in the AD investigation on boltless steel shelving from Thailand (A-549-846), it said in a notice released Dec. 29 correcting a "significant ministerial error" in its original preliminary determination issued in November (see 2311280055).
The U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee should deny Verizon’s motion for “the extraordinary remedy” of an immediate injunction ordering the city to permit Verizon to install three poles to host small wireless facilities on leased property, said the city’s opposition brief Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-01581). Deer District LLC (see 2312050022), an entity affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks, controls the property.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Dec. 28 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 looks set to leave in place agreements suspending antidumping and countervailing duties on sugar from Mexico (A-201-845/C-201-846), it said in the preliminary results of two administrative reviews. The exporters of Mexican sugar reviewed by Commerce appear to be in compliance with the suspension agreement, Commerce said. The final results of these reviews are due in April. A finding that Mexican companies are not complying would result in Commerce terminating the suspension agreements, causing AD/CVD to take effect.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Dec. 28 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department has released the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on citric acid and certain citrate salts from Belgium (A-423-813). Commerce assigned the only company under review, Citribel nv., a 9.13% AD rate, an increase from the preliminary results of this review. Subject merchandise from Citribel entered July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, will be assessed AD at importer-specific rates. Changes to cash deposit rates from these final results take effect Dec. 29, the date they are set to be published in the Federal Register.
The International Trade Commission should have continued its 2023 injury investigation of aluminum extrusion imports from the Dominican Republic, not ruled the imports were “negligible,” domestic petitioners argued Dec. 22 at the Court of International Trade (U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition v. United States, CIT # 23-00270).
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Dec. 27 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):