The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in a lawsuit alleging falsification of country-of-origin documents to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. At issue is whether a Japanese company, Toyo Ink International Corp., two U.S. affiliates, and a Mexican joint venture partner (collectively “Toyo”) misrepresented the country of origin for U.S. imports of carbazole violet pigment number 23 (“CVP-23”) in order to evade antidumping and countervailing duties. According to the lawsuit, Toyo falsely certified that its CVP-23 imports were of Mexican and/or Japanese origin and improperly marked the products’ packaging as being made in Mexico or Japan, rather than China.

The United States has imposed antidumping duties on imports of CVP-23 from China since 2004. Although a few Chinese companies have lower rates, the “all others” antidumping rate applicable to most Chinese exporters of CVP-23 is 241 percent ad valorem. Significant antidumping and countervailing duties also apply to CVP-23 imported from India.