The Commerce Department legally held that modified engines with a gearbox and vertical power take-off shaft are covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on vertical shaft engines between 99cc and 255cc from China, the U.S. said in a Sept. 19 reply brief at the Court of International Trade (Zhejiang Amerisun Technology Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00011).

The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 20 opinion dismissed a customs penalty case involving surety company Lincoln General Insurance Co. The company filed a joint motion to dismiss with the U.S. in the case, as well as in 10 other similar matters, telling the court that the parties reached an understanding regarding "priority classification that enabled [CBP] to request that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania approve the United States' claim" as "undisputed and resolved" (see 2309200038). Judge Jane Restani granted the motion to dismiss.

The Commerce Department lawfully selected surrogate values, calculated rates, applied adverse facts, and correctly decided to deny a separate rate to exporter Trina during the eighth administrative review of the antidumping duty order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing said in its Sept. 18 brief at the Court of International Trade (Jinko Solar Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00219).

The Commerce Department mistakenly relied on the invoice dates rather than contract dates as dates of U.S. sales, resulting in a miscalculation of duties in the 2020-2021 antidumping duty review on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Turkey, Turkish rebar exporters Kaptan and Colakoglu said in a Sept. 18 brief at the Court of International Trade. The brief came in support of a motion for judgment, which asked the court to remand the case to Commerce for reconsideration of the date of sale for U.S. sales and recalculation of the antidumping rates (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi Ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT # 23-00059).

The Commerce Department correctly found on remand that importer Valeo North America's T-series aluminum sheet fell within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum sheet from China, DOJ said in its Sept. 20 comments in support of the remand redetermination (Valeo North America v. U.S., CIT # 21-00581).

The Commerce Department erred on remand when it stuck by its benchmark picks for the land program and the aluminum plate, sheet and strip program in a lawsuit on the 2016-17 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China, Chinese aluminum exporter Zhongji said in its Sept. 18 remand comments to the Court of International Trade (Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00133).

The Commerce Department shifted to entirely relying on adverse facts available rates for antidumping duty respondent Saffron Living Co. on remand in a case on the AD investigation on mattresses from Thailand. The result is a 763.28% margin for Saffron and a 572.66% mark for all-other exporters, up considerably from 37.48% prior to the remand (Brooklyn Bedding v. United States, CIT # 21-00285).

The scope of the U.S. government's remand request in an Enforce and Protect Act case in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's ruling in Royal Brush Manufacturing v. U.S. is "not appropriate," plaintiffs led by Newtrend USA Co. said in a Sept. 18 reply brief. The government didn't say whether on remand it will put on the record "the exculpatory documents that Plaintiffs" gave to CBP during verification that the agency "refused to allow in the original proceeding," nor did it say whether it would allow additional briefing on those materials, the brief said (Newtrend USA Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00347).

The U.S. and Lincoln General Insurance Co. both moved to dismiss 11 different customs penalty claims concerning various single transaction bonds the company entered into with importer Aftahour. The consent motion to dismiss the lawsuits said that "the parties reached an understanding regarding priority classification that enabled [CBP] to request that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania approve the United States' claim" as "undisputed and resolved." As a result, the U.S. "distributed the assets of Lincoln."

The Commerce Department lawfully selected surrogate values, calculated rates, applied adverse facts, and correctly decided to deny a separate rate to Trina during its eighth administrative review of the antidumping duty order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China, DOJ told the Court of International Trade in a Sept. 18 reply (Jinko Solar Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00219).