Newly Released CBP HQ Ruling March 7
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated March 7 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
H337692: Salvage; 46 U.S.C. § 80104; Coastwise Transportation; 46 U.S.C. § 55102
| Ruling: (1) The use of a foreign-flagged vessel to conduct salvage operations at a wreck located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Washington state would not violate the Salvage Statute. (2) The use of a foreign-flagged vessel to transport salvaged cargo from a wreck located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Washington state to a U.S. port in Washington state would not violate the Jones Act. |
| Issue: (1) Whether the use of a foreign-flagged vessel to conduct salvage operations at a wreck located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Washington state would violate the Salvage Statute. (2) Whether the use of a foreign-flagged vessel to transport salvaged cargo from a wreck located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Washington state to a U.S. port in Washington state would violate the Jones Act. |
| Item: Remotely Operated Vehicles (“ROVs”) from the vessel to recover cargo from a wreck. The cargo will then be laded aboard the vessel and carried onboard the vessel to a U.S. port located in the state of Washington where it will be unladed. Rockfish, Inc., has been awarded exclusive salvage rights by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington over a wreck located approximately 24 miles off the coast of Washington state. |
| Reason: (1) The salvage statute applies in “the territorial waters of the United States”. The territorial sea is defined as the “waters, three nautical miles wide, adjacent to the coast of the United States and seaward of the territorial sea baseline.” The vessel is located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Washington. As such, the salvage operation would not take place in “territorial waters”. Therefore, the use of a foreign-flagged vessel to salvage the wreck would not violate the salvage statute. (2) The transportation of cargo from the wreck site to a U.S. port in Washington would not violate the Jones Act. The Jones Act applies to the transportation of merchandise between coastwise points. CBP has long held that wreckage or debris, while attached to the seafloor, are not affixed to the seafloor for exploration, development, or production purposes and therefore do not constitute coastwise points. Therefore, the location of the wreck approximately 24 miles offshore would not constitute a coastwise point. |
| Ruling Date: March 7, 2024 |
H325118: Application for Further Review; 43 U.S.C. § 1333(a); 19 U.S.C. § 1434(a); 19 C.F.R. § 4.80b(a); Entry No. 101-6513644-1; Protest No. 1401-21-106406; Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Inc.
| Ruling: Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy was properly required to make entry and payment of duties upon installation of the subject wind turbine generators. Accordingly, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy's protest was properly denied. |
| Issue: Did the installation of the wind turbine generators and other structures cause them to be attached to the seabed of the outer continental shelf (OCS) such that entry and payment of duties were required for the subject merchandise? |
| Item: Two wind turbine generators at an offshore location in the U.S., approximately 27 nautical miles from Virginia Beach, Virginia. The wind turbine generators were constructed in two phases. First, a foreign-flag vessel transported the monopile foundation, transition piece and related construction material from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to the OCS installation site. The vessel then installed the monopile and transition piece to the seabed of the OCS. The foreign-flag construction vessel was held stationary while undertaking the emplacement of the monopile foundation and other components. According to documentation submitted by Protestant, as part of the project, scour protection was installed on the seabed before the monopile and transition piece were installed. In the second phase of the installation, which occurred approximately three weeks after the first phase, the same foreign-flag vessel attached a wind tower, nacelle and blades to the transition piece installed on top of the previously installed monopile base. |
| Reason: The attachment of the WTGs and other structures on the OCS subjects the items to customs duties, even if there was no scour protection – or anything else – there when the items were so placed. |
| Ruling Date: Aug. 21, 2023 |