CBP Refused to Say Why Protests Were Denied, Importer Says

CBP refused to explain why it denied a vehicle parts importer's protest after the agency liquidated its entry at a rate 78.55 percentage points higher than it had been assigned in a past antidumping duty review, the importer said in a July 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Strategic Import Supply v. U.S., CIT # 24-00124).

Importer Strategic Import Supply said it was notified by email that its protest was denied in part “based on DOC message 9080307 dated 03/21/2019.” The email told the importer to call the relevant Commerce Department call center with any questions, but when Strategic Import Supply did so, it was twice told that message 9080307 “could not be shared on the grounds that it included non-public, proprietary information,” it said.

The importer said it filed a second protest and received the same message.

“Because Plaintiff still has no access to necessary information regarding the denial of the Protest, despite numerous and repeated efforts to obtain message 9080307, Plaintiff timely commenced this litigation,” the company said.

Strategic Import Supply has been involved in a number of other liquidation cases in the past few years, including one that resulted in a denial of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court (see 2305150020). In another ongoing case, the importer alleges CBP illegally liquidated its entries at a 64.57% antidumping rate despite a CIT injunction (see 2401190063).