CBP Grants Protest on Mistakenly Listed IOR Number Due to Clerical Error
An entry of Chinese wooden furniture, subsequently found to be subject to higher antidumping duties, included a mistakenly used importer of record (IOR) number due to a clerical error, said a CBP ruling (here). As a result, the protest should be granted, said CBP headquarters in the further review of protest. The Nov. 24 ruling, HQ H175077, involves C.H. Robinson and Starcorp Furniture, two companies that were both part of a somewhat similar situation that resulted in a controversial CBP ruling (see 1501290028). That ruling is now the subject of two lawsuits (see 1502190058).
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This ruling addresses a 2005 entry of wooden bedroom furniture from China at the Port of Savannah. The entry, filed by Global Link Brokerage, used C.H. Robinson's importer of record number but listed Starcorp, a Chinese furniture company, as the importer of record. Starcorp previously hired C.H. Robinson to be its domestic agent, which in turn hired Global Link as the broker. After CBP issued a notice of action to Starcorp, increasing antidumping duties from 15.78% to 216.01%, the agency billed C.H. Robinson because its importer number was listed, CBP said. C.H. Robinson and Global Link wrote to CBP in response to say that C.H. Robinson's number was listed due to a clerical error.
While the Port of Savannah denied the protest due to a lack of documentary evidence, CBP headquarters came to a different conclusion. The protest is permissible as federal court decisions have defined clerical errors to be "a mistake made by a clerk or other subordinate, upon whom devolves no duty to exercise judgment, in writing or copying the figures or in exercising his intention," said CBP. In this situation, "the commercial documents and entry documents" do "establish that the broker committed a clerical error or inadvertence" said CBP.
Although in a 1994 ruling CBP "previously held that where two parties are entitled to be importer of record, it is more appropriate to leave it to the parties to determine by contract who must make entry," this situation is different, the agency said. Unlike the 1994 ruling "here there are two parties shown on the entry documents: one party is listed as the importer of record while the other party’s importer number is listed. Consequently, there is an error on the face of the entry documents inasmuch as the importer number does not correspond to the importer of record listed for the entry."
Global Link only had a power of attorney from Starcorp, not C.H. Robinson. "Therefore, it had no authority to list C.H. Robinson as the importer of record for the subject entry," said CBP. Global Link admitted that it committed a clerical error, therefore "listing C.H. Robinson’s importer number is a 'mistake by a subordinate' or a 'mistake resulting from inattention or carelessness' that would qualify as a clerical error or inadvertence," said the agency. As a result, the protest should be granted.