CBP ignored Congress' "unambiguous express statutory command when it failed to distribute" interest assessed after liquidation, known as delinquency interest, under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, appellant Monterey Mushrooms said in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Adee Honey Farms, et al. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2105).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected importer China Custom Manufacturing's rehearing bid in an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case. In the decision, Judges Pauline Newman, Raymond Chen and Tiffany Cunningham said CCM's solar panel mounts do not qualify for the "finished merchandise" exclusion from antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China (see 2303020037). In its rehearing motion, CCM said that rehearing was needed to maintain uniformity of the appellate court's prior decisions concerning the "unambiguous plain language" of the finished merchandise exclusion rule. The rehearing bid was referred to the three judges that heard the case, then sent to the remaining active judges on the court (China Custom Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1345).

The Court of International Trade upheld the finding of CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings (ORR) that MSeafood Corp. did not evade antidumping duties on frozen warmwater shrimp from India by transshipping the products through Vietnam, in a decision released to the public May 4. Judge Claire Kelly said that CBP in its affirmative evasion finding failed to consider evidence showing exporter Minh Phu Group's tracing system is reliable and arbitrarily transformed a single instance of evasion into an evasion finding for a whole year.

The Commerce Department dropped its presumption that exporter Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. was controlled by the Chinese government after the Court of International Trade questioned whether the agency could disregard an individually selected respondent's data in favor of the country-wide non-market economy rate. In its remand results to the trade court, Commerce assigned Jilin a zero percent dumping rate using the company's actual submissions during an antidumping duty administrative review on multilayered wood flooring from China (Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. United States, CIT # 18-00191).

The Commerce Department can't use total adverse facts available for countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co.'s alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, the Court of International Trade ruled in a decision released to the public May 3. While Ancientree only submitted loan information for most but not all of its customers, the trade court found perfection is not required to verify non-use of the program.

Judge Timothy Dyk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sharply questioned CBP at oral argument on whether the agency violated importer Royal Brush Manufacturing's due process rights in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation that found that the importer evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on pencils from China (Royal Brush Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-1226).

The Court of International Trade on May 2 upheld a CBP evasion finding in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, with Judge Jane Restani finding that the standard for initiation of an EAPA investigation is low and that the "voluminous evidence" provided by an initial allegation filed by M&B meets both the government’s and importer CEK Group's proposed standards of reasonable suggestion.

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Heat-treated forged steel rods imported by ME Global are properly classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule as "other bars" not further worked than forged, rather than in the importer's preferred classification as "grinding balls and similar articles for mills," the Court of International Trade ruled in a May 2 decision.

Plaintiffs led by Bioparques de Occidente have jurisdiction to challenge the Commerce Department's decision to resume an antidumping duty investigation following the termination of a suspension agreement, the Court of International Trade ruled. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that no challenges to restarting investigations are valid unless part of a challenge to a final determination (see 2204140067), and Bioparques' case challenges a final determination, the court has jurisdiction to hear these claims.