Chinese citizens Zexiong Chen and Hoatian Chen were charged with allegedly importing and reselling counterfeit cellphone cases, said ICE in a Sept. 4 press release. The two, who are unrelated and live in Massachusetts, are said to have "imported counterfeit cellphone cases from China, sold a small percentage of them through their Wakefield, Massachusetts store, and sold the vast majority of them to individuals and companies who in turn resold them at retail locations," said ICE. CBP seized about 10,000 cases in 2012 and 2013 imported by the defendants with phony trademarks, said ICE. Had the cases been real they would be worth about $350,000, the agency said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Sept. 8. This report (here) includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Sept. 8 with 54 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 183,633. The most recent ruling is dated 09/05/14.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 2-5 in case they were missed.
CBP acted within its authority when it added regulations that require steel mill test certificates for some iron and steel products upon import, the agency said in a July 15 ruling. CBP headquarters considered whether the rules were properly implemented in response to an internal advice request from the Port of Champlain, New York, said the ruling, HQ H209833. The advice request was a result of a protest from Pratt & Whitney Canada, which claimed the regulations in 19 CFR Section 141.89 violated the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. The company also requested a year-long "informed compliance" period in order to adjust to the certificate requirement, and asked whether a supplier certification can substitute for the mill certificate.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The Port of New York/New Jersey quarterly public broker meeting at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 will include the following agenda items, according to an informational pipeline: Centers of Excellence and Expertise Update, Post-Importation Claims for Preferential Tariff Treatment and Importer Security Filing Enforcement. The meeting will be in Rm. 401, 100 Raymond Blvd., Newark, N.J. Further information: Linda Birck, 973-368-6107.
CBP's Laredo import specialist enforcement team seized a shipment of electronic tablets that would be worth $1.1 million had they been real, said CBP on Sept. 3. The seized shipment included tablets that allegedly infringe on Amazon, Google, Micro SD and SD trademarks, said the agency. The enforcement action, which was recently finalized, began when a CBP import specialist in Laredo, Texas, selected the shipment for a secondary examination, said CBP. A subsequent legal review by CBP's intellectual property rights branch found that the shipment lacked the required legal authorization from the trademark holders, it said. "Seizures like these ensure that valuable intellectual property is protected from harm from would-be knockoff products and help restore the integrity of America’s economy,” said Joseph Misenhelter, CBP port director at the Laredo Port of Entry.
CBP has decided against going forward with a controversial update to an Informed Compliance Publication (ICP) that would have spelled out the first sale verification measures available to the agency, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said. According to the NCBFAA, the CBP decision was made in response to industry comments, most of which were highly critical of the agency's effort (see 14080624, 14081416 and 14082926). Although CBP has not made any official communication that the ICP revisions will be scuttled, there have been some indications to that effect, said Thomas Travis, managing partner at Sandler Travis, a law firm that has advocated strongly against the ICP updates.