CBP can’t refund excise taxes mistakenly assessed on a wine importer as a result of an ACE processing error, the agency said in a ruling issued in 2019 but only publicly released on its ruling database Jan. 31, 2021. Despite the double assessment of excise tax having resulted from its own error, CBP held that its regulations only provide for refunds of excise taxes under certain circumstances, none of which apply to this particular situation. Instead, the importer must apply directly to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, CBP said in HQ H294599.
FDA is setting a countrywide import alert on all alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico that will allow the agency to stop and detain shipments at the border while it reviews their safety, FDA said by email Jan. 26. Prompted by a sharp increase in hand sanitizers from Mexico that purport to contain ethanol but tested positive for methanol contamination, Import Alert 62-08 is the first one issued countrywide on any category of drug product, FDA said.
The Commerce Department will put new aluminum import licensing regulations on hold and seek more comments on the program, it said in a notice released Jan. 25. “This delay in effective date is necessary to allow the incoming Administration time to review the Final Rule and consider any additional comments before implementation,” Commerce said. Comments on the final rule are now due Feb. 26. “Parties are invited to comment on all aspects of the Final Rule and” the Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis System, it said.
Disposable medical face masks assembled in Canada from components made in India, the U.S. and China are eligible for USCMA tariff treatment, CBP said in a ruling issued Dec. 18, 2020. While some components that determine the classification of the masks originate in India, those components undergo the relevant USCMA tariff shift rule, CBP said in HQ H315375.
Safeguard duties on large residential washers entered under a tariff-rate quota will fall to 15% on Feb. 8, 2021, and then 14% on Feb. 8, 2022, before the newly extended safeguards expire after Feb. 7, 2023, according to annexes to a presidential proclamation released Jan. 19 for publication in the Jan. 21 Federal Register.
CBP’s new regional withhold release order on cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region presents new enforcement challenges for the agency, which is working on technological capabilities to be able to track origin for third-country goods made from imports covered by the WRO, CBP officials said on a call with reporters Jan. 13.
End uses and channels of trade matter for determining whether processing removes a product from the scope of antidumping and countervailing duties on stainless steel sheet and strip from China (A-570-042/C-570-043), according to a Commerce Department scope ruling issued Nov. 24. The agency found that the flywheel housings imported by Concept2 for use in its exercise machines are not covered by the AD/CVD orders, despite sharing the same physical characteristics as the subject merchandise.
The Commerce Department on Jan. 4 ruled automotive frame crossmembers made from extruded aluminum are covered by antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), in what a domestic aluminum group calls a “huge victory for our industry.”
The International Trade Commission posted the 2021 Preliminary Edition of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements the removal of GSP benefits for many Thai products, as well as the redesignation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as eligible for AGOA, and the extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act until 2020. New statistical breakouts are also added for many medical products, including those used in the treatment of COVID-19, as well as for industrial turbines and hemp seed, among other goods. Changes take effect Jan. 1, 2021, unless otherwise noted.
The Solar Energy Industries Association and several solar importers filed a lawsuit Dec. 29 seeking to invalidate a recent presidential proclamation reimposing solar safeguard duties on bifacial panels and upping the safeguard tariffs on all imported solar cells. Joined by Invenergy Renewables, NextEra Energy and EDF Renewables, the SEIA says President Donald Trump failed to follow the requirements of the safeguard laws when he issued the proclamation in October.