CBP said in a customs ruling earlier this month that luxury goods sold between a related European exporter and U.S. importer weren't subject to restrictions on their use that barred the use of the transaction method. In addition, CBP excluded service fees between the companies from the actual price of the goods since the fees didn't pertain to the goods' importation, and the agency found that the relationship between the parties didn't preclude the use of the transaction value method to appraise the value of the goods.
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 on June 12 granted two companies' motions for voluntary dismissal in an antidumping and countervailing duty injury case and a customs case. One case, brought by exporter Adisseo Espana, contested the International Trade Commission's final determination finding that methionine from Spain and Japan injured the U.S. industry. The other, brought by importer AVA Industries, contested CBP's classification of multimedia players without screens. Neither company commented on the reasons for the dismissals (Adisseo Espana v. United States, CIT # 21-00562) (AVA Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 20-00123).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential decision June 13 sustained CBP's negative evasion finding regarding Dominican company Kingtom Aluminio. Enforce and Protect Act petitioner Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee brought suit, arguing that CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings wrongly overturned an evasion finding initially made by CBP's Trade Remedy and Law Enforcement Directorate (see 2309220032). The petitioner claimed that TRLED was right to use adverse inferences against Kingtom after the company interfered with CBP's ability to verify information submitted by the company. The court hasn't given any indication of when it will make the decision public (Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 22-00236).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential June 13 order sustained the Commerce Department's final results of the third administrative review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia. Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until June 20 to review the decision. AD petitioner U.S. Steel Corp. brought the case to contest Commerce's finding that exporter BlueScope Steel (AIS) didn't reimburse its U.S. affiliate for AD on the relevant imports (see 2206080032) (U.S. Steel v. U.S., CIT # 21-00528).
Exporter Hyundai Steel continued to challenge the Commerce Department's finding that the South Korean government's cap-and-trade carbon emissions program was de jure specific, in comments on the agency's remand results filed at the Court of International Trade on June 13 (Hyundai Steel Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00029).
Importer Marcatus QED filed a complaint on June 13 at the Court of International Trade, claiming that the Commerce Department erred in finding that the company's shipments of preserved garlic in brine fell within the scope of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from China (Marcatus QED v. United States, CIT # 24-00091).
The EU opened a dispute settlement proceeding against Algeria under the two sides' Association Agreement to "address several restrictions" on EU exports and investments, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced. Algeria imposed various trade restrictions on the EU in 2021, covering multiple sectors, including agriculture and motor vehicles.
DOJ repatriated another $156 million in "misappropriated 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds to the people of Malaysia," bringing to about $1.4 billion the total returned to Malaysia from the international embezzlement scheme, the department announced June 13.
Montenegro formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies June 14, bringing to 77 the number of countries that have accepted the deal. The WTO requires 33 more to reach the two-thirds threshold needed for the agreement to be able to enter into force.
The EU General Court on June 12 rejected Russian investment fund VEB.RF's application to be removed from the bloc's Russia sanctions regime, according to an unofficial translation. The European Council sanctioned the financial institution for helping undermine the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and providing material support to "Russian decision-makers responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Eastern Ukraine."