CBP Rules Only U.S-Based Truck and Trailer Shipments from New York to Detroit via Canada Considered IITs
A Canada-based trailer of aluminum coils sent from upstate New York, going through Canada and destined for Detroit would not constitute an Instrument of International Traffic (IITs), said CBP in a Sept. 13 ruling. The ruling, HQ H242646, also found that U.S-based trailers and trucks doing the same thing would be considered IITs under CBP regulations, which allow for U.S. entry of IITs without a formal filing or duty payment. Novelis requested the ruling from CBP.
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Novelis said it was considering using both U.S. and Canada-based trucks and trailers to transport aluminum coils from Oswego, N.Y. to the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. The trucks from Oswego would drop off the merchandise in Hamilton, Ontario, and pick up empty or scrap-filled trailers to be returned to Oswego. Trucks from Detroit with empty or scrap-filled containers would drive to Hamilton and exchange its trailer with the trailer with aluminum coils, and then return to Detroit. Novelis said the trucks would only be hauling trailers of same origin.
The use of a Canada-based trailer would not be permissible as an IIT, said CBP. The use of such trailers falls outside the regulatory requirements in 19 CFR 123.14, which say that foreign-based trucks admitted as IITs may not engage in local U.S. traffic, said CBP. "Because the movement of the subject coiled aluminum and aluminum scrap is between two U.S. points (Oswego, New York, and Detroit, Michigan), the merchandise movement in this case would be domestic in nature, and its transportation would be considered to be local traffic," the agency said. The use of a Canada-based trailer would similarly be considered as "a movement in local traffic," the ruling said.
U.S.-based trucks and trailers, on the other hand, would be allowed as an IIT, the agency said. The aluminum coils and aluminum scrap under consideration herein meet the definition of “merchandise,” which is allowed to be transported by U.S.-based trucks in and out of the U.S. without formal entry or duty as an IIT, said CBP. "On the occasions where an empty trailer would be carried out from Detroit to Ontario, we are of the opinion that it would be leaving empty for the purpose of bringing back merchandise," which is also allowable under the regulations, the ruling said. Therefore, Novelis can use U.S.-based trucks and trailers for the shipments and consider them to be IITs.