Australia extradited Chinese national Jin Guanghua to the U.S. last week to face charges that he, along with co-conspirators, took part in a scheme to sell tobacco in North Korea in violation of U.S. sanctions, DOJ announced. Jin made his initial appearance in a District of Columbia district court Sept. 30.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 1 granted dismissal of government's appeal contesting the erroneous deemed liquidation of its goods that were subject to suspended liquidation. The Court of International Trade had ruled Fraserview didn't need a protest to file its suit (see 2401250039). CIT said that because the statute for deemed liquidation requires that the entries not be suspended, CBP's notices of deemed liquidation didn't operate to actually liquidate the entries. The U.S. appealed the decision but dropped the matter in a joint stipulation filed in September (see 2409060005) (Fraserview Remanufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-2049).
The U.S. and Indian exporters led by Kisaan Die Tech Private Limited on Sept. 30 reached a settlement in pair of cases on the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel flanges from India (Kisaan Die Tech Private Limited v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00512).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 1 ordered that an evidentiary hearing be held on Oct. 16 in a suit from importer Retractable Technologies on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 100% Section 301 tariff hike on needles and syringes. The importer filed the suit to seek a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction on the duties, claiming the tariffs could send it out of business (see 2409270025) (Retractable Technologies v. United States, CIT # 24-00185).
The U.S. on Sept. 30 told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the Court of International Trade erred in rejecting its efforts to redact parts of the trade court's decision sustaining an International Trade Commission injury determination. The government said CIT "abused its discretion" in publicly disclosing information marked by the commission as business confidential (CVB, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1504).
Covington announced last week that it opened a trade controls enforcement practice group to represent clients in sanctions and export controls investigations. The practice group combines the firm's trade controls regulatory practice and its white collar defense and investigations practice and will house teams in China, the EU, the U.K. and the U.S. Eric Sandberg-Zakian, a sanctions and export controls partner based in Washington, D.C., will head the practice group, Covington said.
Shipping companies Prive Overseas Marine and Prive Shipping Denizcilik Ticaret were sentenced last week to pay a $2 million criminal penalty after pleading guilty to dumping oil-contaminated waste into the ocean, DOJ announced. The companies operated the P/S Dream, the vessel from which the waste was released, and will both also undergo a four-year probationary period.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 30 granted a pair of voluntary dismissal motions from importer Travelway Group International on its two import classification cases. Both cases sought Section 301 exclusions for its backpack and bag entries of Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 4202.92.3120 and 4202.92.3131. Counsel for Travelway didn't immediately respond to request for comment (Travelway Group International v. United States, CIT #s 22-00313, 23-00057).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Sept. 30 issued its mandate in an antidumping duty case brought by importer PrimeSource Building Products and exporter Cheng Ch International Co. The court held in its decision that the Commerce Department's use of only adverse facts available rates to set the rate for the non-individually examined respondents in antidumping proceedings, known as the "expected method," isn't presumptively unreasonable (see 2408070020) (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2128).