The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Dec. 16 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department will lower the engine displacement threshold for inclusion under the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on vertical shaft engines between 99cc and up to 225cc from China (A-570-124/C-570-125), it said in the final determination in an anti-circumvention inquiry. The agency found vertical shaft engines with a displacement of 60cc to 99cc are circumventing the orders and should be subject to AD/CVD.
The Commerce Department’s recent preliminary determination that Southeast Asian solar cells and panels are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2212020064) left several questions unanswered, and lawyers for the Solar Energy Industries Association hope the agency will clarify these issues as the case proceeds to its final determinations, they said during a webinar Dec. 13.
The Court of International Trade should reject a request to temporarily stay an order barring the import of certain fish taken from New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries, plaintiffs Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society argued in a Dec. 12 reply brief. Harms the New Zealand fisheries will purportedly suffer absent a stay are "short-lived, overstated, and speculative," the brief said, but "[m]ore importantly, they pale in comparison to the ongoing risk posed to the Maui dolphin from set net and trawl fisheries that operate within the dolphins' range" (Sea Shepherd New Zealand v. United States, CIT #20-00112).
U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell for Northern Florida in Pensacola granted Parler’s motion to stay discovery until its motions to compel arbitration and transfer venue to Las Vegas in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act case are resolved, said an order he signed Monday (docket 3:22-cv-21243). Wetherell has recently taken a deeper “preliminary peek” at the motions, and while he will keep an open mind until the motions are fully briefed, “there is still a good chance that this case will not proceed in this Court,” said the judge. “That being the case, the Court sees no reason for the parties to expend time and money on discovery at this point.”
The Commerce Department released the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on glycine from India (C-533-884). It said it made no changes to its preliminary results of this review. The agency set new CV duty cash deposit rates for exporters of subject merchandise. These final results will be used to set final assessments of CVD on importers for subject merchandise entered during calendar year 2020.
The Commerce Department issued the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on finished carbon steel flanges from India (C-533-872). It said it made no changes to its preliminary results, and set new CV duty cash deposit rates for 38 exporters. These final results will be used to set final assessments of CV duties on importers for subject merchandise entered Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 31, 2020.
The Commerce Department illegally used adverse facts available for exporter SeAH Steel Corp.'s alleged benefits under the Export-Import Bank of Korea's (KEXIM's) Performance Guarantee program, SeAH argued in a Dec. 13 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Commerce improperly based its decision on its treatment of information related to the performance guarantee program presented at verification as "new factual information," the brief said (SeAH Steel Corp. v. United States, CIT #22-00338).
U.S. lawmakers unveiled legislation this week that would block certain transactions with TikTok or other social media companies under the influence of China, Russia and several other foreign countries. The Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act, introduced in the Senate by Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and in the House by Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., “would protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions” with TikTok, the lawmakers said.
Correction: In its preliminary determinations in anti-circumvention inquiries on solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, Commerce declared the 22 companies that did not cooperate with the inquiries are ineligible for certification processes for goods from exempt exporters and goods that don’t meet Chinese content requirements. However, they may submit certifications that their goods are “applicable” entries that qualify for a two-year grace period from any duties imposed under the anti-circumvention inquiries (see 2212020064 and 2212070025). Such certifications are due by Jan. 23 for entries since April 1, 2022, and at time of entry summary for entries on or after Dec. 23.