CIT Grants US Remand Request in AD Evasion Case to Correct Gap in Record
The Court of International Trade remanded an antidumping duty evasion case, in a March 11 order for CBP to fully consider the record. The agency requested the remand after it found out plaintiff Norca Industrial Company was not privy to documents relating to a third-party's visit to a Vietnamese manufacturer's production site. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves limited the remand to the issue of the whole record and not the other issues raised by Norca.
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In the Enforce and Protect Act investigation, CBP found that Norca evaded antidumping duties on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China by transshipping them through Vietnam. Norca filed suit at CIT, alleging that its due process rights were violated, among other things.
In the investigation, a third party submitted various photographs and videos from a site visit to manufacturer BW Fittings' Vietnam facility. This documentation was not shared with Norca either through access to the documents themselves or through CBP-made public summaries. CBP also failed to disclose its communications with the third party. CBP then requested a voluntary remand to allow the third party to bracket this information and supplant the record with a public summary of the information (see 2109290061).
Choe-Groves granted the remand motion so that the record may be complete in consideration of the evasion matter. The issue, though, pertains to the scope of the remand. "The only question here is how remand should be framed," the judge said. "Because remand will result not only in correcting the record but a reconsideration by Customs of the allegations of evasion 'anew' based on the complete record, the Court declines to opine at this point on the 'other issues raised' in Plaintiffs’ briefs on their USCIT Rule 56.2 motions for judgment on the agency record and remands all issues to Customs for full consideration of the complete record."
(Norca Industrial Company v. United States, Slip Op. 22-19, CIT Consol. #21-00192, dated 03/11/22, Judge Choe-Groves. Attorneys: Peter Koenig of Squire Patton for plaintiff Norca and consolidated plaintiff International Piping & Procurement Group; Bret Vallacher for defendant U.S. government)