CIT Orders Reliquidation of Plywood After CBP Says Importer Proved Goods Are Not From China

The Court of International Trade in a July 1 order granted the U.S.'s motion for entry of confession of judgment in a customs case on imported hardwood plywood from Richmond International Forest Products (RIFP). In all, Richmond filed four cases over 60 entries of hardwood plywood, which CBP classified as of Chinese-origin, assessing antidumping, countervailing and Section 301 duties, along with a merchandise processing fee. RIFP argued that the plywood is from Cambodia, filing a series of protests that CBP denied (Richmond International Forest Products Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00178).

In May, the U.S. filed a motion for entry of confession of judgment in only one of the four cases, telling the trade court that RIFP has substantiated its claim over the country of origin of its imports. As such, DOJ implored the court to order the reliquidation of one entry. While RIFP urged the court to grant the U.S.'s motion, it floated modifications to the order. The plaintiff wanted the court to first grant its motion to consolidate the four cases, enter partial judgment over one of the protests and order CBP to answer the plaintiff's discovery request while entering a new scheduling order for the consolidated case.

RIFP said that while it welcomes the fact that CBP now agrees with its claims over the origin of the goods, it believes the U.S. is "employing a strategy of delay in this litigation ... to shield Defendant's conduct from judicial review while Defendant also litigates issues in a separate ongoing court chase challenging" CBP's affirmative evasion finding. The Enforce and Protect Act investigation the plaintiff references is the one the U.S. "presumably relied on to liquidate" RIFP's entries as being from China.

Judge M. Miller Baker ended up granting the U.S.'s confession of judgment, but denying the motion to consolidate the cases. The judge ordered that the plywood entry be reliquidated without the AD/CVD, Section 301 duties, merchandise processing fee or harbor maintenance tax. The judge also ordered that CBP refund RIFP any payments of AD/CVD or Section 301 duties, merchandise processing fees or harbor maintenance taxes with interest.