U.S. Court of International Trade - Judicial Business 2016

The geographic jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of International Trade extends throughout the United States. The majority of the cases this court hears address the classification and valuation of imported merchandise, customs duties, and alleged unfair import practices by trading partners.

In 2016, this court reported 270 case filings, a decrease of 31 percent (down 120 cases). Of these cases, 145 were actions involving 1,949 denied protests covering 11,230 entries of merchandise under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(a), which applies to civil actions filed against the United States that contest the denial of a protest under the Tariff Act of 1930.

Case terminations rose 27 percent from 385 in 2015 to 489 in 2016. Pending cases decreased 11 percent from 2,031 in 2015 to 1,812 in 2016.

Filings were 39 percent lower in 2016 than in 2012. However, filings frequently vary from year to year because of fluctuations in cases arising from the agencies that are sources of filings in this court.

For data on filings in the U.S. Court of International Trade, see Table G-1.