A recent federal district court ruling limiting the U.S. anti-smuggling statute to physical goods won't affect export control enforcement efforts on data and other intangible exports sent digitally across borders, lawyers said in interviews. Although the U.S. District Court in Kentucky said a statute barring the unlicensed export of certain merchandise, articles or objects didn't apply to an email with magnet schematics sent to Chinese manufacturers (see 2407290046), lawyers noted that U.S. export control agencies have their own, specific enforcement authorities to regulate those digital transmissions.
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
The Court of International Trade's CM/ECF system will undergo maintenance 6 a.m. to noon EDT Sept. 8, the court announced. The system will be unavailable during this time.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Taiwan national Pen Yu was sentenced Aug. 2 to three years and eight months in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud in a scheme to defraud a German biochemical company and divert biochemical products to China using "falsified export documents," DOJ announced. Yu was sentenced by a federal court in Florida, which also ordered the forfeiture of the proceeds of the scheme, which amounted to $100,000.
Exporter Risen Energy Co. waived oral argument in its appeal of the 2017-18 antidumping duty review on solar cells from China. Risen filed the appeal to claim that the Commerce Department failed to use the best information when setting surrogate values for the company's backsheet and ethyl vinyl acetate inputs (see 2305170049). The exporter also challenged the agency's calculation of its financial ratios. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit set oral argument in the case for Sept. 3 (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1550).
Importer King Maker Marketing told the Court of International Trade on Aug. 2 that the date of importation of its paper-wrapped cigarettes was the date on which the goods were withdrawn from a foreign-trade zone and not the date on which they entered the FTZ. As such, the company said in a complaint that its duty drawback claims weren't untimely, since they were filed within five years of the dates on which the goods were withdrawn from the FTZ (King Maker Marketing v. United States, CIT # 24-00134).
The U.S. opposed Turkish exporter Habas Sinai's motions to intervene as an intervenor in an antidumping case and for an injunction on the liquidation of its entries, arguing that Habas' entries are already liquidated and that the company offers no "good cause" for its delay for timely seeking an injunction from the court (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 24-00018).
The Commerce Department on Aug. 2 said Vietnam will continue to be treated as a non-market economy in antidumping duty proceedings. Releasing the results of its review of the nation's market status, the agency said that despite "substantive reforms made over the past 20 years, the extensive government involvement in Vietnam’s economy distorts Vietnamese prices and costs," rendering them "unusable" for calculating the duties.
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 1 reassigned to Judge Gary Katzmann from Judge Timothy Stanceu two related antidumping duty scope cases regarding steel truck wheels from China. The lead plaintiffs in the proceedings are Asia Wheel Co. and Vanguard National Trailer Corp., which filed the cases to challenge the Commerce Department's "substantial transformation" analysis regarding steel truck wheels made in Thailand with either Chinese-origin rims or discs (see 2407020049). The court didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the switch (Asia Wheel Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00143) (Vanguard National Trailer Corp. v. U.S., CIt # 24-00034).
The Commerce Department on remand at the Court of International Trade revised the duty drawback adjustment for exporter Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret, resulting in a de minimis antidumping duty rate for the company in the AD investigation on common alloy aluminum sheet from Turkey (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 21-00246).