A Porsche 911 imported from Canada but returned as faulty does not qualify for rejected or unused merchandise drawback because it lacks the required documentation and was used, CBP said in a Sept. 14 ruling. The importer did not provide sufficient proof that the sports car was defective, did not provide adequate notice of re-exportation to the port, and drove the vehicle before returning it, CBP said in ruling HQ H289069.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 18-24:
CBP Buffalo should not have denied duty-free treatment as U.S. goods returned for polo shirts screen-printed in Canada on the basis that the shirts were not originally “sold for exportation to the U.S.,” CBP said in a recent internal advice ruling. A sale for export to the U.S. is not necessary to claim classification under subheading 9802.00.50, CBP said in HQ H264961. But the goods still don’t qualify for classification in the subheading because they were imported before the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 relaxed restrictions on commingling of U.S. goods returned, CBP said.
CBP is increasing enforcement of wood packaging material (WPM) treatment requirements, it said. Beginning Nov. 1, the agency will issue penalties to responsible parties for each documented wood packaging materials violation, CBP said on Sept. 25. “This is a change from the previous published threshold of 5 violations,” it said. “There will be no yearly reset for calculating repeat violations as each WPM violation may incur a penalty.”
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 11-17:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 4-10:
CBP’s Office of Field Operations has tentatively come up with some “parameters” for how it will handle Section 321 clearances going forward, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo conveyance security and controls, at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on Sept. 11. The agency has agreed on a two-track solution, allowing continued clearance in the Automated Manifest System while providing new capabilities for Section 321 in the Automated Broker Interface, he said. ABI filing will include a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule number as a data element, with the importer of record potentially optional, he said.
The Justice Department’s recent intervention in a whistleblower case against a UK retailer that allegedly split shipments on its U.S. imports to avoid duties “sends a clear message that this behavior will not be tolerated,” said the law firm Constantine Cannon, which represents the whistleblower, in a Sept. 8 press release. The July complaint alleges that Pure Collection and its executive Samantha Harrison deliberately split large orders so their shipments to the U.S. would fall under the $200 de minimis threshold, later raised to $800, despite knowing the practice violated customs rules.
CBP and other agencies involved in trade still have some ways to go before resolving an ongoing debate on how to describe goods in Section 321 shipments, said Christa Brzozowski, deputy assistant secretary for trade and transport at the Department of Homeland Security, at the U.S. Air Cargo Industry Affairs Summit Sept. 6 in Washington. The government still needs to work through process issues related to what goods are eligible for expedited release, and what role partner government agencies (PGAs) will have in the process, before considering whether to require 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers or written descriptors, she said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 28 - Sept. 3: