Certain claims from conservation groups Sea Shepherd New Zealand and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society may continue despite the fact that the administrative decision they are challenging has expired, the Court of International Trade ruled in a June 21 opinion. Judge Gary Katzmann said that an element of Sea Shepherd's challenge is capable of repetition from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and evading review, allowing a claim seeking declaratory relief to proceed. But because the decision expired, the judge said the prospect of injunctive relief was moot.

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The Commerce Department made subsidies an "afterthought" when it failed to properly evaluate their impact on potential surrogates in a case involving the administrative review of an antidumping duty order on steel nails from Oman, AD respondent Oman Fasteners told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a June 16 response brief (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1039).

The Court of International Trade on June 20 upheld CBP's finding that importer Skyview Cabinet USA evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets and vanities from China. Judge Stephen Vaden said that, contrary to Skyview's claims, CBP adequately found that "contradictions, omissions, and inconsistencies" in the company's submissions were enough to find the data to not be credible and that the record backs the evasion findings against the firm.

The Commerce Department complied with a remand order from the Court of International Trade by adding a respondent to its antidumping duty investigation on utility-scale wind towers from Spain, but did not alter its all-others rate, in remand results submitted to the trade court June 16 (Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy v. U.S., CIT # 21-00449).

The Commerce Department said that hardwood plywood exported to the U.S. by the Vietnam Finewood Company made using two-ply panels imported into Vietnam from China are outside the scope of antidumping and countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China, in remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade on June 15. The agency said under protest that the goods are not subject to the duties since the trade court ruled that the scope language "unambiguously" shows that the orders do not include Chinese two-ply panels (Vietnam Finewood Company v. United States, CIT # 22-00049).

The Commerce Department has had to change its practices in countervailing duty cases when dealing with the China Export Buyer's Credit Program (EBCP), despite the increased burden on the agency, due to a series of unfavorable court decisions, lawyers said during a panel discussion at Georgetown Law's annual International Trade Update June 13.

Should the Commerce Department's ACCESS system go down while counsel is attempting to submit documents in a proceeding with the agency, the attorney should document everything to avoid consequences for missed deadlines, said Evangeline Keenan, director of the APO/dockets unit at Commerce, during panel discussion June 14 at the Georgetown Law International Trade Update conference. Speaking on the limits of the ACCESS platform, Keenan said that the agency "will take responsibility if ACCESS is causing problems," while noting that if the issue resides with the attorney's or paralegal's own internet access, then it's their responsibility.

The Court of International Trade on June 14 dismissed a suit from three conservation groups seeking to compel the Interior Department to decide whether Mexico is engaging in illegal trade and fishing of the totoaba fish, which threatens the endangered vaquita porpoise. The parties reached a settlement in April under which the agency found that Mexican nationals are violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (see 2306020054). Due to this finding, the U.S. could impose an embargo on any goods coming from Mexico.

The Court of International Trade on June 14 granted importer Maple Leaf Marketing's bid to redesignate the U.S.'s counterclaim as a defense in a customs spat on the classification of boronized steel tubing. Dismissing Maple Leaf's bid to dismiss as moot, Judge Claire Kelly cited the court's Cyber Power Systems (USA) v. U.S. decision to find that nowhere in Congress' scheme on the classification of goods does the legislative body explicitly let the U.S. "assert a counterclaim challenging CBP's classification."