Private Bill Introduced to Allow Reliquidation of Specific Imports Going Back to 2009
Rep. Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., introduced a private bill to allow a company that imported golf cart tires to reliquidate the entries years later, so that they can recoup nearly $2 million.
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.
The Hole-N-One golf cart tires were imported under a half dozen different importer numbers, but several were associated with Americana Development, and several were some form of the name 'Monitor.' Depending on the importer number, the dates covered 2009-2011, 2010-2011, 2009-2015, 2011-2015 or 2012 -2016.
The bill's text notes that CBP issued a New York Ruling in 2016 that the tires should have been classified as 4011.69.00, and therefore should have entered duty-free; the ruling was affirmed by headquarters May 22, 2017.
The bill instructs CBP to reliquidate the duty paid by the companies that imported these tires within 90 days of enactment, for listed entries back to 2009, with interest.
A staffer in Yakym's office said that a company in his district told the congressman that the tires had been imported under the wrong tariff code based on unofficial advice from CBP.
The bill is called a private bill because it does not benefit the public at large. For it to become law, the House Ways and Means Committee would need to support its passage. If it does, then the bill could either pass through a "private calendar" vote, or be attached to a public bill that is moving through the House. It does not need to have a Senate companion bill.
Congress has passed a reliquidation bill before, Yakym's office said, but it's been 19 years.