Plywood Exporter, Importer Drop Suit on Premature Liquidation in EAPA Spat

Vietnam Finewood Co. and Far East American dropped their case at the Court of International Trade challenging CBP's premature liquidation of hardwood plywood entries subject to an Enforce and Protect Act investigation. In a status report filed earlier this month, the companies said they received "partial refunds" and that the rest of the money at issue is "caught up in issues that have caused extraordinary delays not involved with the merits of the appeal or CBP's apparent willingness to work" with the companies to "ultimately effect the refunds in total" (Vietnam Finewood Co. v. United States, CIT # 20-00155).

CBP inadvertently liquidated the hardwood plywood entries of Far East American and another importer, InterGlobal Forest, during an EAPA action on the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China, prompting the present challenge (see 2202010029). The companies filed a separate suit contesting the affirmative evasion finding itself, and the companies' protests of the inadvertent liquidations were suspended until resolution of that case.

The separate suit ended in April, with CBP dropping its evasion finding on the companies (see 2404080020). CBP said it wouldn't pay refunds to InterGlobal because no AD/CVD were paid, and that the agency "has begun the process of issuing refunds for" Far East American's entries.