The Commerce Department on remand at the Court of International Trade lowered the dumping margin for exporter Apiario Diamante Comercial Exportadora, known as Supermel, from an 83.72% adverse facts available rate to a 10.52% mark. The agency made the switch in the AD investigation on raw honey from Brazil after incorporating the court's finding that Supermel's failure to reconcile its costs with its beekeeper suppliers' costs was immaterial to the calculation of the AD rate (Apiario Diamante Comercial Exportadora v. United States, CIT # 22-00185).

A plaintiff representing a consumer advocacy group Aug. 16 filed a complaint against the company that sells products under the brand names Oreo, Toblerone and Cadbury chocolate for its use of child labor and poor environmental standards (Tim Gollogly v. Mondelez International, N.D. Ill. # 24-07368).

The U.S. told the Court of International Trade on Aug. 23 that exporter Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co. doesn't have statutory or constitutional standing to challenge CBP's denial of the company's request to remove it from a withhold release order (WRO) on silica-based products made by its parent company Hoshine Silicon and its subsidiaries (Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00048).

Seko Customs Brokerage on Aug. 22 opposed the government's bid to get more time to file a brief in support of its motion to dismiss Seko's case against the company's removal from the Entry Type 86 pilot and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs. The customs broker said the U.S. failed to show good cause why it should get more time to file the brief (Seko Customs Brokerage v. U.S., CIT # 24-00097).

U.S. importer CME Acquisitions argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's recent decision in PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. didn't overrule the appellate court's decision in Yangzhou Bestpak Gifts & Crafts Co. v. U.S. regarding how the Commerce Department sets the non-selected respondents' antidumping duty rate (CME Acquisitions v. United States, CIT # 24-00032).

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 15 decision made public Aug. 20 rejected the Commerce Department's determination that some of exporter Megaa Moda's home market sales weren't made "for consumption" in that market. Judge Thomas Aquilino said Commerce must "diligently examine the circumstances surrounding a transaction," and can't simply use a prior CIT decision to say that the agency can't use the trade patterns of a company's customers to find that the sales aren't "for consumption" in the home market.

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 21 allowed the U.S. to serve German paper exporter Koehler through its U.S. counsel in a suit seeking over $193 million in unpaid antidumping duties and interest from the company. Judge Gary Katzmann said the court's rules allow for such service and that this type of service doesn't disturb international comity or Koehler's due process rights.

Cumulation occurs on the date a petition is filed, not when the International Trade Commission votes, the ITC claimed Aug. 16 in opposition to a Court of International Trade ruling. It said this had been established by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (Tenaris Bay City, et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00344).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 20 sent back the Commerce Department's decision in an antidumping duty review not to adjust exporter Trina Solar Co.'s U.S. price by six programs countervailed in the companion countervailing duty review. Judge Claire Kelly said Commerce failed to explain its finding that the six programs weren't export contingent.

Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.