The Court of International Trade in a pair of Dec. 16 opinions upheld the Commerce Department's decisions to exclude importers Worldwide Door Components' and Columbia Aluminum Products' door thresholds from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. After previously remanding the decision for not being submitted in a form that was judicially reviewable, Judge Timothy Stanceu said that this time around the agency has made a scope decision "in a form the court is able to sustain."

The Court of International Trade for the second time upheld the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available in a countervailing duty case based on the Chinese government's failure to submit information about the Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Timothy Reif in a Dec. 8 opinion made public Dec. 16 said information about participating banks was vital enough to Commerce's efforts to verify non-use of the program that the refusal to provide the information justified the use of AFA. The court differentiated the case from another countervailing duty proceeding in which Commerce verified non-use without the requested information, finding in the other case the agency had non-use certifications from the respondent's U.S. customers -- something they did not have in the present case.

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.