The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 30 - Jan. 5:
A portable solar charger with a plastic cover on its photovoltaic panel does not qualify for an exclusion for off-grid and portable panels from Section 201 safeguards on solar products from China, CBP said in a recently published ruling. The relevant exclusion covers only portable and off-grid panels that are foldable or that have glass covers, so Arlo’s chargers with plastic covers don’t qualify, CBP said in HQ H299136, issued in May but only posted to CBP’s Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) database on Dec. 18.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 23-29:
The International Trade Commission posted the 2020 Basic Edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements the U.S.-Japan trade deal that took effect Jan. 1, as well as changes to eligibility for African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits. Changes to units of quantity are also made to the tariff schedule, and new statistical breakouts are added in chapters 17, 38, 72, 76, 83, 84, 85 and 87. The changes also took effect Jan. 1.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 16-22:
An importer can still be guilty of infringing patents related to production processes, even if it didn’t itself perform those processes and only imported the finished good, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a Dec. 18 decision.
Winter snow wheels imported by Allied Wheel for use on passenger vehicles are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China (A-570-090/C-570-091), the Commerce Department said in a Dec. 16 scope ruling. The scope of the AD/CVD orders is meant to cover trailer wheels, and Allied Wheel’s winter snow wheels aren’t suitable for trailer use, Commerce said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will grant one-year extensions to only six exclusions from the first list of Section 301 tariffs on China that were due to expire Dec. 28, it said in a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to its website. The notice is silent on the other 25 exclusions issued alongside the six that were granted extensions, so those 25 now appear set to expire on Dec. 28.
Advertising and trademark royalty fees paid to a fashion brand owner are not included in the dutiable value of apparel imported from an affiliated contract manufacturer, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 17 decision. While the importer, Trimil, correctly added design fees paid to Armani to the transaction value of its entries, the advertising and royalty fees also paid to Armani were not directly related to the importation from the manufacturer and are not dutiable, CIT said.
Ziploc bags are classifiable in the tariff schedule under heading 3923 as articles for the conveyance or packing of goods, rather than as plastic household articles of heading 3924, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 16 decision. Though the Ziploc bags could be classifiable in both headings, heading 3923 is more specific and is the correct tariff provision under General Rule of Interpretation 3(a), CIT said.