CIT Extends Preliminary Injunction to Unassigned Section 301 Cases; Some Process Questions Remain

The Court of International Trade extended to all unassigned cases a preliminary injunction halting the liquidation of unliquidated entries subject to the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 China tariffs for plaintiffs in the litigation challenging the tariffs, CIT said in a July 6 order. Cases challenging the tariffs continue to trickle in to CIT and, pursuant to an April 28 order, are automatically stayed without being assigned to the master litigation. Chief Judge Mark Barnett penned the extension order shortly after dissenting from the decision to issue the preliminary injunction (see 2107060077).

Meanwhile, the means of enforcing a preliminary injunction against the liquidation of unliquidated entries subject to the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 China tariffs must still be sorted out. The CIT set two important dates for resolving lingering enforcement questions in its July 6 order granting the injunction.

By July 13, the Department of Justice must “meet and confer” with the 15-member steering committee on behalf of the thousands of plaintiffs regarding the establishment of a "repository" for the plaintiffs to identify any of their unliquidated imports. The court will hold a status conference on July 15 at 11 a.m. to go over the results of this meeting between the steering committee and DOJ.

By July 20, the defendants shall have this repository established to which any plaintiff can submit their unliquidated entries to have them remain as such. When submitting the entries, the court mandated that importers include three key pieces of information: the full and correct Importer of Record numbers including suffixes, the court number and filing date of the plaintiff's litigation along with the Center [of Excellence and Expertise] and team assignment, if known, and the entry number and date of entry for each entry for which liquidation is to be halted. “For all such identified entries, the U.S. government must either stipulate to the availability of refunds or suspend liquidation, so as to guarantee the availability of refunds for duties paid should plaintiffs prevail on the merits,” Akin Gump, which is representing many plaintiffs in the case, said on its website.

The order only temporarily halted liquidation until Aug. 3. Should any entry be “inadvertently or mistakenly” liquidated before then, the defendants shall unliquidate the entry, CIT said.