CIT Lets US Share Certain Confidential Information With Ninestar's Officers

The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 16 order allowed some changes proposed by the U.S. to the amended protective order (APO) in exporter Ninestar Corp.'s case against its addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, but it denied a motion from Ninestar to amend the protective order (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).

Ninestar's bid to amend the protective order would have defined a new class of information, dubbed "Ninestar Confidential Information," that can be shared with Ninestar and its employees. The government's amendments, meanwhile, allow only Ninestar's "executive leadership" to see only some of the confidential information. The exporter filed the motion in light of the government sharing certain confidential information only with Ninestar's counsel, not with the company itself (see 2401160044).

Judge Gary Katzmann rejected Ninestar's bid to alter the order "without prejudice to the parties' rights to propose further modification of the terms of the APO or to challenge the designation of materials as 'Confidential Information' or 'Ninestar Confidential Information' under the APO or as privileged." The judge additionally noted that Ninestar's counsel can disclose the portions of the record the U.S. labeled "Ninestar Confidential Information" with the "officers or directors" of the exporter.