US Says Calendaring Error No Basis for Late Intervention in AD Suit

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).

Habas seeks to join an existing suit from exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret on the 2021-22 administrative review of the AD order on steel concrete rebar from Turkey. An injunction was issued in this case covering entries from Kaptan and exporter ICDAS Celik Enerji Tersane ve Ulasim Sanayi. Since no injunction covered Habas' goods, CBP liquidated its entries. The exporter now seeks to join Kaptan's suit.

The government said the Court of International Trade should deny the intervention bid because the company's entries are already liquidated and Habas offers no good reason for its delay in joining the case. The exporter said it didn't have the litigation deadlines calendared, but "Habas provides no explanation for its dilatoriness in joining this suit."

The company doesn't claim it wasn't aware of the suit, "nor could it given that Kaptan was required to notify all 'interested parties' (i.e. Habas) of the filing of this action," the government said.

The U.S. said the trade court should deny the bid for an injunction as well, due to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's rule established in Zenith Radio Corp. v. U.S., which says that "once entries are liquidated, a party’s claims to those liquidated entries are moot." Habas' case "falls squarely within the Zenith rule," the brief said.

There's "no question" CBP correctly liquidated Habas' entries, the U.S. claimed. While the exporter seemingly says filing a protest with CBP will restore its entries to unliquidated status and then the injunction will operate to pause liquidation, "Habas is wrong," the brief said. "Its circuitous argument lacks any merit and is contrary to clear federal circuit precedent."

Petitioner Rebar Trade Action Coalition filed its own brief similarly challenging Habas' motions to intervene and for an injunction in the suit. The petitioner said the exporter "cannot show that it is entitled to the extraordinary relief of a preliminary injunction."