Sidley secured a favorable ruling on behalf of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade, striking down a government rule restricting “substitution drawback,” an export-promotion program allowing manufacturers to obtain a refund of taxes paid on imported goods when exporting similar domestically made goods. The program helps U.S. manufacturers “level the playing field” when they sell to overseas markets and incentivizes increased manufacturing and jobs within the U.S.
The firm also secured the lower court ruling on behalf of the NAM in this case in the U.S. Court of International Trade in early 2020. The government had issued a rule barring drawback of excise taxes if the exported domestic goods were not subject to excise taxes in 2018. NAM challenged the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act, arguing that the governing statute bars the government from imposing this added limitation on substitution drawback claims. In a ruling issued on January 24, 2020, Chief Judge Jane A. Restani agreed, holding the rule invalid.
The case is National Association of Manufacturers v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, et al., No. 20-1734 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Peter Keisler presented oral argument in the Federal Circuit on March 1, 2021. The team also included Virginia Seitz, Tobias Loss-Eaton, and Barbara Broussard (all Washington, D.C.)