The Court of International Trade dismissed a case seeking the release of goods excluded over forced labor concerns without plaintiff Virtus Nutrition's proposed condition that CBP allow the goods to be re-exported. Judge Timothy Reif said the temporary storage agreement under which the goods are currently being held does not give a basis to include the proposed stipulation. Virtus "retains recourse" to address its concern that CBP can seize the goods rather than allow their exportation, Reif said.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 12 opinion dismissed a lawsuit from importer MS Solar on the Commerce Department's liquidation instructions issued after an antidumping duty administrative review for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Tossing the case without prejudice, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the case, which was filed under Section 1581(i) -- the court's "residual" jurisdiction -- could not stand because relief would have been available under Section 1581(c). The judge said the "underlying issue in this case is an error" that affected the final results and not Commerce's liquidation instructions.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 8 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from the United Arab Emirates. On remand, Commerce granted plaintiff Universal Tube and Plastic Industries a level of trade adjustment -- a move which no parties in the case contested.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 8 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2016 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu said that Commerce properly dropped its imposition of CV duties on plaintiff Yama Ribbons and Bows Co. for China's Export Buyer's Credit Program and that the agency fixed errors found by the court in the case's last opinion related to Commerce's analysis of the provision of synthetic yarn and caustic soda below cost. On remand, the agency further explained that the provision of these two items for less than adequate remuneration met the specificity requirement of the law.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 6 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from India. On remand, the agency used respondent Z.A. Sea Food's Vietnamese sales to calculate normal value. The domestic shrimp industry contested this, arguing Commerce should use constructed value since there is no evidence the shrimp sold in Vietnam was actually consumed by the Vietnamese customers. Judge Gary Katzmann deemed the domestic industry's claims as waived "due to the lack of adequate argument."

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 6 opinion upheld parts and remanded parts of the Commerce Department's final results in the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on welded line pipe from South Korea. Judge Claire Kelly upheld Commerce's decisions to find there was no particular market situation in the Korean hot-rolled coil steel market, recalculate respondent Nexteel's costs without making a non-prime product adjustment and recalculate the non-examined companies' rate. The judge again sent back the agency's further explanation of its classification of Nexteel's suspended production line costs.

The Commerce Department is setting new antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam -- though collection is on hold per a presidential proclamation and subsequent Commerce regulation -- after finding imports from the four countries are circumventing AD/CVD orders on solar cells from China in the preliminary determination of an anti-circumvention inquiry.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 2 opinion found that the Commerce Department illegally used adverse facts available on antidumping respondent Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. Saha Thai omitted sales of line pipe from its U.S. sales database, claiming that line pipe is not within the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand. Judge Stephen Vaden found Commerce did not notify the respondent that its sales database was deficient, remanding the use of AFA. If Commerce continues to use AFA on remand, it must ensure it complies with the notice requirement, the judge ruled.

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 1 opinion denied the U.S.' partial motion to dismiss a case challenging the Commerce Department's decisions to issue liquidation instructions after an antidumping review based on its automatic assessment policy and to set an effective date for a duty determined through litigation. The plaintiff, Goodluck India, designated Sections 1581(c) and (i) as alternative grounds of jurisdiction for its claims. The U.S. sought to partially dismiss the complaint for its claims of jurisdiction under Section 1581(c). Judge Gary Katzmann said that since the motion "as styled is not the proper vehicle," the motion is denied.

The Court of International Trade in a Nov. 28 opinion sent back parts and upheld parts of CBP's evasion finding under the Enforce and Protect Act that Aspects Furniture International (AFI) evaded antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that CBP acted improperly by retroactively covering entries made before the EAPA statute came into force, including in the EAPA investigation of merchandise found by the Commerce Department in a scope ruling to not be covered by the order and failing "to provide sufficient public summaries of confidential documents on the administrative record." However, the judge ruled CBP did not deprive AFI of due process by imposing interim measures before the importer had a chance to respond to the evasion allegation and did not illegally combine the EAPA investigation with a regulatory audit.