US to Refund Importer Over $3M for Duties Paid on Entries Subject to Revoked AD Order

The U.S. will pay over $3 million in duty refunds with interest to importer Kiswire related to duty payments the company paid on its wire rod entries from South Korea. Filing a stipulated judgment with the Court of International Trade on Oct. 16, Kiswire and the government agreed to settle Kiswire's challenge against the antidumping duties assessed on its imports (Kiswire v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00181).

The U.S. will pay $2,381,683.53 in duty refunds, along with $661,940.39 in interest, without reliquidating the entries.

Kiswire entered three shipments of high carbon steel wire rod from South Korea in 2018, dutiable at a 41.1% AD rate. The next year, the AD order was partially revoked, though the Commerce Department applied the revocation only to goods whose end-use certificates were filed at the time of entry summary. Kiswire filed post-summary corrections to provide CBP its products' end-use certificates.

CBP suspended liquidation of the entries, though the suspension was lifted in 2021. The importer said its entries were deemed liquidated at the 41.1% rate six months later. CBP denied Kiswire's subsequent protests for untimeliness, claiming the entries liquidated in 2018 (see 2401080040). At CIT, Kiswire said CBP personnel told the company on at least four occasions from 2020 to 2021 that the entries remain suspended.

The U.S. suggested that the importer's goods weren't subject to the AD order's revocation since end-use certifications hadn't been filed at entry, but if the court did find Kiswire's entries to be covered, they would have automatically been deemed liquidated six months after the revocation at the 41.1% rate.