Devin Sikes Quoted in Law360 on CIT Ruling in Particular Market Situation Authority Case
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Akin Gump international trade counsel Devin Sikes has been quoted in the Law360 article “Trade Court Rejects Commerce’s Korean Steel Dumping Duty,” which reports on the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) ordering the Department of Commerce to reevaluate a duty adjustment on Korean steel pipe imports. The article says the court found that the Commerce Department improperly used its authority to disregard product costs and sales in South Korea.
According to Law360, the judge in the case said the decision by the Commerce Department to use its particular market situation authority, which allows it to disregard costs and sales in companies’ home countries when circumstances outside of normal trade exist, was not supported by sufficient evidence.
Sikes, who represents foreign producers that are challenging Commerce’s particular market situation authority, said the decision is significant because it shows the CIT is trying to keep the agency from exceeding its authority.
“This is the latest in a string of decisions where the court is pumping the brakes a bit to ensure that Commerce doesn’t have a free license to jettison companies sales and costs data, and if they decide to do so, that they are supporting their decisions with some substantial evidence as the statute requires,” said Sikes.
