US Asks CIT to Treat Certain Docs as 'Highly Sensitive' in Ninestar UFLPA Entity List Case

The U.S. asked the Court of International Trade to treat "certain portions of the administrative record as highly sensitive documents" in a case against Chinese printer cartridge maker Ninestar Corp.'s addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Following a spat on whether to allow the government to amend the protective order in the suit, the U.S. is now asking for certain protections for information on the record since, if revealed, the information "could pose a danger of physical harm to certain persons" (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).

The trade court granted the government's bid to amend the protective order in the case, though it left open the chance for Ninestar to contest the terms of the APO (see 2310260045). The Chinese exporter said that the current record, in which the U.S. redacts the vast majority of information relied on by the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, gives the government "essentially unreviewable discretion to seal information, placing it beyond" the exporter's review (see 2310240048).

FLETF added Ninestar and its subsidiearies to the UFLPA Entity List in June for allegedly working with the Xinjiang government to reap the benefits of forced labor by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz or members of other persecuted groups in Xinjiang (see 2308230016). The U.S. said its listing decision was based on information from Ninestar, press clippings and Chinese government documents, though that is the extent of the description of the materials it used.