The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 22-28:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 15-21:
A mattress material supplier in Puerto Rico can’t claim its imported innerspring units qualify for duty free treatment under the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, and must add certain additional payments to the transaction value of the merchandise, CBP said in a recent ruling (here). Following a visit from its Regulatory Audit office in Miami, the agency found in ruling HQ H270834 that Adorable Pillows did not provide enough information to justify its claim for duty free treatment or its determination that the payments were unrelated to the subject innersprings.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 8-14:
Failure to accurately report data elements required by the Food and Drug Administration’s Foreign Supplier Verification Program could also have compliance implications for customs brokers, Domenic Veneziano, president of Veneziano Consulting, said during a webinar hosted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America on May 12 (here). Brokers that file inaccurate data could be prevented from entering food under FDA’s Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, given that VQIP importers must use brokers that passed their most recent filer evaluation (see 1611100028). As a result, it is “extremely important” that brokers get accurate information from their clients, Veneziano said. A presentation from the webinar is available (here).
The Food and Drug Administration on May 15 rolled out a reorganization of its field offices that includes the creation of five import-specific districts, an agency spokeswoman said. The five districts (here) include the Division of Northeast Imports (here), the Division of Northern Border Imports (here), the Division of West Coast Imports (here) and the Division of Southeast Imports (here), as well as the Division of Southwest Imports (here), which previously existed as the Southwest Import District and served as a model for the new import divisions (see 1704040024).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 1-7:
Weeks out from the first compliance date for new requirements under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program on May 30, confusion persists among the trade community as to what must be done to comply and who is required to do it. Despite pleas from the NCBFAA for a “soft landing” (see 1705020041), the Food and Drug Administration has so far not explicitly indicated a policy of enforcement discretion, though agency officials have agreed to be “mindful” of the rule’s impact on industry (see 1704040024). Given the rule’s complexity and past experience, FDA will likely take a lenient approach, using the initial compliance period for education, though particularly egregious cases could see early enforcement.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 24-30:
An exporter's bid to secure the return of $25 million in aluminum products seized by CBP will continue, after the Central California U.S. District Court on April 21 denied a government motion to dismiss the case. Lawyers for the government had argued Perfectus’ case couldn’t seek the return of the aluminum products because the administrative forfeiture process was already underway. The court decided in Perfectus’ favor after finding the government lawyers’ claims were “blatantly untrue.”