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CIT Refuses to Impose Negligence Penalty for Misclassification, Says Broker May Have Been Responsible
July 28, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

The Court of International Trade on July 24 denied a request from the government to impose penalties on an importer for negligently misclassifying entries of plywood (here). The government had asked the court to forego a trial and order the importer to pay $324,540 for declaring its plywood duty-free. However, the importer’s use of a customs broker raises questions as to who actually bore responsibility for the violation, and those questions must be decided at trial, said CIT.

Topics:Customs duty, Court of International Trade
L.A. Furniture Importer Admits to Endangered Fish Smuggling
July 23, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

Kam Wing Chan, the owner of a Los Angles furniture company, pleaded guilty to smuggling endangered abalone and Totoaba fish, said the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California in a July 21 news release (here). Chan was alleged to have used the company, "which was ostensibly an importer of Asian furniture, to purchase endangered fish in Mexico, import them into the United States, and then export them to Asia," it said. The seafood was illegally exported to companies owned by one of Chan’s relatives in China, where they are considered delicacies "and often adorn the buffets of festival meals and are served at formal dinners," it said. Under the plea agreements, Chan and the company "will forfeit the smuggled wildlife and make restitution to the government of Mexico in the total amount of $55,000 for the loss of the natural resource, and pay fines totaling $14,500."

Canadian Company Pleads Guilty to Importing Medicated Cattle Feed
July 14, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

A Quebec cattle feed brokerage and manufacturing company pleaded guilty to two felony counts related to illegal imports, said a press release from the Office of the United States Attorney (USAO) for the District of Vermont (here). Yves Bolduc, president of Meunerie Sawyerville, entered the guilty pleas for the company on July 8, said the USAO. The charges include "one felony count of making a false statement to Customs and Border Protection officials, and one felony count of fraudulently causing the cattle feed drug monensin to be introduced into interstate commerce at a level of concentration significantly higher than that allowed by the Food and Drug Administration," Vermont's USAO said.

Glass Content Capped at 50 Percent for Classification as Machinery Parts, Says CIT
July 14, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

Products containing glass must be mostly made of other materials, or include mechanical components, to be classified as machinery under chapter 84, said the Court of International Trade in a July 10 decision (here). Although the note excluding articles of glass from classification in chapter 84 is silent as to what “of glass” means, CIT looked to the history of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff schedule to find the international body intended it to mean products that are not “mainly of other materials.”

Topics:Court of International Trade
DOJ Alleges 4 Smuggled Into US 40,000 Fake Apple, Sony Products Worth $15 Million
July 6, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

Four individuals were arraigned July 1 in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, on charges they smuggled tens of thousands of counterfeit Apple and Sony products from China for sale in the U.S., the Justice Department said in a statement (here). Charged in a 31-page indictment (here) with importing and trafficking illegal goods were Andreina Becerra, 30, a Venezuelan national; Roberto Volpe, 33, an Italian national; Jianhua Li, 40, a Chinese national; and Rosario La Marca, 52, an Italian national, DOJ said. They’re also accused of international money laundering to cover their tracks, DOJ said. The indictment estimates the defendants smuggled in more than 40,000 fake Apple and Sony goods between July 2009 and February 2014 that would have fetched more than $15 million in sales had they been the genuine articles. No information was available on whether the four defendants entered pleas, and attorneys for the four didn’t comment.

Set-Top Box Company Seeks Court Declaration to Prevent CBP Seizures After Licensing Dispute
July 2, 2015 |Penalties and Courts

HDMI Licensing is “wrongfully” demanding more than $905,000 in back royalties and interest from Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB), a Swiss-based supplier of HD set-top boxes, residential gateway devices and other products to pay-TV operators throughout the world, ADB alleged in a breach of contract complaint filed June 30 in U.S. District Court in San Jose. HDMI Licensing threatened to cancel ADB’s license agreement June 30 and alert CBP to seize ADB shipments as “unauthorized” goods, the complaint said. The complaint doesn’t seek a preliminary injunction, only a “declaration” that HDMI Licensing “is precluded” from notifying CBP that ADB goods “are unauthorized and subject to seizure because they are not.”