DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas directed CBP and Homeland Security Investigations to "provide him with a comprehensive enforcement action plan in 30 days" to protect domestic textile interests. The announcement, after a meeting with domestic textile mill owners who asked the government to step up free trade agreement enforcement and Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act apparel enforcement and to end de minimis sales, also says that report should include "a determination whether current trade law provides adequate authorities to solve the core issues."
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 30 said that for drawback purposes the 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings should be read starting with their directly adjacent text and not the superior indented text. Judge Claire Kelly said the "plain meaning" of the statute governing substituted unused merchandise drawbacks refers to the "words describing the article adjacent to the 10-digit number."
Old leather sold at fair market value by a U.S. importer doesn't count as an "assist" for customs valuation purposes, CBP said in a recent ruling. CBP said the imported merchandise would only have constituted an assist if it was sold "free of charge or at reduced cost," ruling that sales made at “fair market value” are neither.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance formally petitioned for the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to add eight Chinese processing companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List.
CBP ruled that it provided adequate notice of its extension of liquidation for entries bonded by Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance Company that it had found subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, the agency said in a recent ruling. CBP found that there was no requirement to provide anything other than a notice beyond posting the notice on its website, and the courtesy notice provided for under the agency's regulations is not required.
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 25 said importer Fraserview Remanufacturing Inc. didn't need a protest to file suit at the trade court for its entries that were erroneously deemed liquidated while liquidation was suspended. Judge Timothy Reif said that because the statute for deemed liquidation requires the that entries not be suspended, CBP's notices of deemed liquidation didn't operate to actually liquidate the entries.
Logistics provider Your Special Delivery Services Specialty Logistics (YSDS) doesn't meet the criteria to act as the importer of record on a shipment, CBP said in a recent ruling. While the company would have a lien on shipments that it could exercise in the event of nonpayment, that doesn't qualify as enough of a financial interest in the shipment to give it the right to make entry, the agency said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
A joint report from Sheffield Hallam University's Laura Murphy, now at DHS, as well as Anti-Slavery International and the Investor Alliance for Human Rights, doesn't name any new sectors or firms with exposure to Uyghur forced labor, but offers resources for those wishing to avoid that risk in either the solar panel or electric vehicle battery sector.