No Refund of Excessive CVD

Etiketler : Court Decision Customs Law Litigatoin Trade law
I have previously pointed out the few cases that I see as ending in an injustice, even where the result is legally correct. These cases always lead me to ask whether anyone in a position of power in the United States Government asked whether the ultimately successful litigation position was actually the right thing to do. Sometimes, it is not. Capella Sales & Services Ltd. v. United States, is one of those cases.

The background you need to understand this case is that there has been a long-running dispute over the proper calculation of the countervailing duty deposit rate imposed on aluminum extrusions from China. In May of 2011, Commerce initially calculated the all-others rate applicable to companies in China that were not assigned their own or a separate rate as 374.15%. Following some litigation, Commerce reduced the deposit rate to 137.65%. Finally, after additional litigation, the deposit rate was reduced to 7.37% in October of 2015.

At the time of entry, importers of aluminum extrusions subject to the order are required to deposit estimated countervailing duties based on the prevailing rate stated in Commerce Department instructions to Customs and Border Protection. Importers who are unsatisfied with the applicable rate are permitted to request administrative review of the order and can have the liquidation of their entries suspended pending a final determination of the proper rate of the CVD.

Capella, the plaintiff in this case, did not do that. While all that trade litigation was happening, Capella made four entries of merchandise. At the time of entry, Capella was not aware that the merchandise it was imported was subject to the CVD order. As a result, it did not deposit any countervailing duties. It also did not participate in the case, despite being notified by Customs that its merchandise was subject to the order. As a result, Customs liquidated the entries with 374.15% CVD, which was the then-current rate in the Commerce Department instructions. After the rate was determined to be 137.65%, Capella filed a case in the Court of International Trade seeking to recover the CVD it deposited in excess of the amount ultimately found to be correct.

Let's recap. Capella made some mistakes. It failed to recognize that it was importing merchandise covered by a countervailing duty order. It also failed to participate in the investigation or take any steps to prevent the liquidation of its entries. But, the United States Government also made some mistakes. Whatever it did wrong, it collected roughly 367% of excess CVD from Capella and other companies.

The question in this case is whether Capella has a means of recovering the excess CVD it paid. Sadly, the answer is no.

The Court of International Trade first had to resolve the question of whether it had jurisdiction to review the case. Here, Capella was not challenging the substance of the deposit calculation. In fact, it was happy with the final calculation. Capella's complaint was that Commerce failed to modify its instructions to Customs to retroactively modify the deposit rate. A challenge to Commerce's instructions falls within the Court's grant of subject matter jurisdiction in 28 USC 1581(i). So, jurisdiction is not the problem.

However, the government also moved to dismiss the case under rule 12(b)(6) on the grounds that Capella failed to plead a cause of action. Capella's argument was that by keeping money to which it was not entitled, the government was acting in a manner that is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. This makes sense. The Court already determined that the higher rate was not in accordance with law. What right should the government have to keep that money?

Unfortunately, there are procedural steps that need to be followed to preserve the right to recovery. As mentioned above, Capella did not participate in the investigation. It did not seek review of the deposit rate applicable to its products. Most important, it did not have the liquidation of its entries suspended or judicially enjoined. According to the statute, unless liquidation is suspended or enjoined, the entries will be liquidated in accordance with the Commerce Department instructions. If liquidation is enjoined pending litigation, the entries will liquidate in accordance with the final court decision.

Because Capella did not prevent the liquidation of its entries, Commerce acted properly when it liquidated the entries at the higher rate.

That, is a tough break for Capella, even if the result is not wrong. There is a principle of administrative law that requires parties to exhaust the administrative process to gain access to the Court. This is useful in most cases because it allows the agency to fully and completely review the matter and it creates a complete record for judicial review. There is also the rule that a statute means what it says. Both of these rules of law work against Capella.

But, most importers in this same situation and even those who made deposits at the time of entry did not envision such a dramatic change in the deposit rate. Participating the case is expensive and time consuming. Not enough importers will do it. The lesson of this case may be that importers should always participate in the reviews and always seek to have liquidations suspended as the only way to preserve the right to a refund should someone succeed in securing a lower deposit rate. That hardly seems efficient.

As it is, many importers have paid far too much and the domestic industry has received market protections far in excess of what the correct analysis would have mandated. No, the right, just, and efficient thing is for Commerce to amend its instructions to refund excess deposits paid. Since that will never happen, Congress should pass a bill refunding the excess duties paid by importers. Unfortunately, there may not be anyone in Congress who will stand up for the importers of aluminum extrusions.