Money laundering charges against a former oil and commodities trader for an alleged bribery scheme involving Mexican officials should not be dropped as duplicative of another ongoing lawsuit, DOJ in an Aug. 21 reply brief. The agency said the government is given “wide latitude” when charging conspiracies, adding that the indictment “plainly alleges” that only a single conspiracy existed (U.S. v. Javier Aguilar, E.D.N.Y. # 20-00390).
Ben Perkins
Ben Perkins, Assistant Editor, is a reporter with International Trade Today and its sister publications, Trade Law Daily and Export Compliance Daily, where he covers sanctions, court rulings, and other international trade issues. He previously worked as a trade analyst for a Washington D.C. advisory firm. Ben holds a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in International Relations from American University. Ben joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2022.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 24 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The Commerce Department in an antidumping proceeding correctly used a bona fide sale analysis of a single sale of wooden cabinets by importer Dalian Hualing Wood (Hualing) from a linked investigation, DOJ argued in an Aug. 24 response at the Court of International Trade. The brief came in reply to a June motion for judgment, in which Hualing argued that Commerce illegally made separate determinations in linked antidumping and countervailing duty reviews (see 2306260033) (Dalian Hualing Wood Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00334).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
CBP's Office of Regulations & Rulings correctly overturned the Trade Remedy & Law Enforcement Directorate's (TRLED) evasion finding against Dominican company Kingtom Aluminio in an Enforce and Protect Act administrative review, Kingtom said in an Aug. 23 brief at the Court of International Trade. Kingtom is intervening in a suit by the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee (AEFTC), which seeks to overturn CBP's final determination of no evasion (Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 22-00236).
CBP's attempts to collect a 14-year-old bond for antidumping duties on Chinese garlic may be affected by the Court of International Trade's ruling in a similar case, defendant Aegis Security said in a notice of supplemental authority. CIT Judge Richard Eaton ruled on Aug. 22 that the statute of limitations for CBP to collect on customs bonds runs six years from the date of the underlying liquidation rather than from the date that CBP demanded payment (see 2308220054). Though Aegis notes that CIT judges are not bound by the decisions of other judges on the court, the company has been arguing for a similar result (see 2210270054).
CBP's admission that imported desk pad and planning calendars meet the dictionary definition of "calendar" is evidence that the items should have been so classified as a calendar under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. subheading 4910.00.2000 instead of the basket provision for other paper products in subheading 4820.10.4000, importer Blue Sky said in a motion for judgment filed Aug. 23 at the Court of International Trade. Blue Sky is attempting to overturn CBP's classification of four models of Blue Sky's weekly and monthly planning calendars. While both classifications are duty-free, the government's preferred classification carries additional Section 301 duties (Blue Sky The Color of Imagination v. U.S., CIT # 21-00624).
Vanity mirrors with speaker and a charging port or wireless charging pad are still classifiable in the tariff schedule as mirrors, CBP said in a recent ruling, denying an importer's protest for one entry but granting it for two others on the basis that the underlying entries were untimely reliquidated.
The Commerce Department unnecessarily backed off of its use of adverse facts and erred in a dumping margin calculation on imported steel nails from Oman in an antidumping duty review, domestic producer and defendant-intervenor Mid Continent Steel & Wire said in remand comments filed Aug. 23. Mid Continent is contesting the July 17 remand results, in which Commerce reversed its imposition of total adverse facts available on Oman Fasteners and completely removed the 154.33% AD rate for the company (see 2307170036) (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 22-00348).